


Fate Never Fails

by sukiyoshii



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (I think?), (according to madi), Angst, Ba Sing Se, Breakup, Earth Kingdom (Avatar), F/M, LOTS OF ANGST IM SORRY, Miscommunication, Mutal Pining, Northern Water Tribe, Romance, The Jasmine Dragon (Avatar), Unrequited, fluff will come, i wrote it at 2 am, if you look past the shitty writing its somewhat okay?, this is horrible i apologize
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-04 10:13:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24968026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sukiyoshii/pseuds/sukiyoshii
Summary: Nine years after the war has ended and three years after Aang and Katara broke up, they're seemingly on different paths, though fate brings them together.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 69
Kudos: 57





	1. Healing in Private

**Author's Note:**

> HI! I would like to thank my friends Audrey (holyappa on here if you want to read her apple juice fic) for making me write this and keeping me motivated at 2 am. I also want to thank Madi who edited this story so it doesn't make your eyes bleed. IT's not the best story but hey if you're bored its some thing to read. Enjoy!

You would think because he was the avatar he would have a nicer room. The bed was falling apart, the walls made out of ice that looked like it would collapse any minute, and a tiny broken window . Even with all of this disarray, he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Aang was on the bed, slightly sitting up. His arms, legs, anywhere with bones were in casts. He had to thank Bohai for these wounds. A few months earlier he had been fighting the blood bender, trying to stop him from destroying a small village in the earth kingdom, when Bohai broke his bones. At the time, Aang was winning and was a hair's breadth from taking him down. But when he was about to make the final blow Bohai had shattered almost all of his bones  
.  
Aang was lucky a healer from the Northern tribe was in town or else his fight would have completely been over then. From there he was taken back to the Northern water tribe where some of the best healers lived. In and out the water benders came trying to heal his bones step by step. The most important bone Aang wanted healed was his hand to be able to write letters. It took a full two months before he could write, but when he was able to he wrote many letters.

One, to Zuko, telling him he’d miss the peace festival this year. Another to Sokka talking about how he’d have to miss his birthday due to the problem in the earth kingdom. Aang even started to write a letter to Toph until he realized she couldn’t read it. The one person he didn’t send a letter to was Katara.

Katara and Aang hadn’t spoken in two years. They always made sure they wouldn’t see each other, by it being Aang leaving Omashu a few days earlier than Katara would arrive, or Katar leaving a party before he was set to make an entrance.

All of their friends thought they were being dumb, Toph especially. She constantly yelled of them when she had the chance and would say they are acting like babies over one fight. One, simple, fight between Aang and Katara forced them to end their relationship of six years. No one knew what the fight was about, or even the day it happened. The most anyone, even their friends, knew was that it happened before Aang left for the fire nation for the peace festival marking the end of the 100 years war.

So Aang would have no reason to send her a letter she wouldn’t read, if she truly wanted to know how the Avatar was doing she could ask her brother. That doesn’t mean he didn’t write one. His letter to her started off as a basic lie about where he was, and without realizing it he was writing an apology. He said he was sorry for the fight, for not trying harder to work things out, and for keeping secrets. By the time Aang put his brush down tears had dried onto his cheeks making his smooth face tight and dry.

He sent the letters to one of the trusted people of the water tribe, when asked if he wanted to send the third letter he declined and motioned for the messenger to leave. Where he was staying was shabby. It had to be, no one would think the Avatar would stay in a place like this. His life had been so close to ending a few months ago, if anyone knew he was vulnerable and tried to assassinate him they would have likely prevailed.

The room has a bed and a drawer for close, there was nowhere he could hide the letter for Katara. He put the unspoken words in the top drawer and prayed the cleaners didn’t go through his clothes.

“How’s that hand of your’s doing?” a familiar voice asked from the entrance of the room.

“Meilin, would it kill you to knock?” Aang replied

Meilin gave him a humorous look before coming closer, “I think if I knocked on that door it would fall off its hinges. Now you didn’t answer the question, how’s your hand?” She took his hand in her and got some water from her pouch to start healing it.

Aang’s only response to her question was a groan in pain as she started to heal it. He hated to admit it but his bones were still fragile. Meilin soon moved onto his legs while he flexed his hand, it didn’t hurt as bad as before thankfully.

Meilin and Aang had grown close in the five months he had been in the Northern Water tribe. She came to his room whenever she had time and healed him. Meilin was the best water bender the tribe had, she healed many people a day constantly without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately for Aang and the tribe she was leaving to set up clinics all around the Earth kingdom. This would be the last healing session between the two and she was using all of her strength to try to heal him as much as she could before she left.

“I know,” she started, “that my replacement won’t be as fun as me but she is good at what she does. I think she’ll be able to have you on your feet in two or three months.”

“And after that?” He asked  
She sighed, “After that it’ll take a few more months before you can casually fight. I’m sorry I can’t stay to heal you faster but I’ve been working to create these clinics for a while. There’s finally enough healers that I can go.”

Aang leaned forward, he pushed through his pain, and put his hand on Meilin’s arm. “You don't need to worry about me. I’ll be fine and I’m glad you're finally getting your dreams. Just don’t forget to write okay?”

A blush creeped up Meilin’s neck. Nothing had happened between them, but his words always made her cheeks darken and her stomach flip. She nodded and went back to healing.

...

Seventh months has passed and Aang was better, a lot better. For the past months multiple healers worked on him multiple times a day. Conflict was growing in the world and Bohai was still loose, the world needed the Avatar.

Aang spent his days training and healing, healing and training. And although his body wasn’t at 100% it was getting close. He didn’t know where Bohai was or where to go once the healers had done all they could. Thankfully he was saved from having to decide when his usual letter came from Meilin.

The letter talked about the usual, how the clinics were, how she was, how the city she was staging in was fairing. Though once he got to the second page the letter took a twist, it talked about how Meilin was starting a clinic with Katara in Ba sing se. They needed someone to speak with the king so they could get funding for their free clinic. Meilin was worried even though Katara knew the king wouldn't speak to her. Though if the avatar came and vouched for their clinic, there was no way the King could say no.

Once finishing the letter Aang immediately started to pack his clothes. He threw everything into a flimsy bag, and after a moment's consideration decided to take the letters with him. Maybe he would give them to her, maybe he wouldn’t. At least if he brought them he had the choice.

Aang told the closest people he could find, and hoped they spread the information of his leave fast enough that no healers would come to his room tomorrow and no trainer would wait for him on the ice. He hopped on Appa and waved to the people around him who gave him confused stares. Aang’s eyes brightened with excitement about finally seeing Meilin and especially because of the blue-eyed girl who he was going to make things right with.


	2. Starting a Clinic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Aang was injured Katara started a clinic!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It gets better here! (i think) the chapters from here on are going to be one or two thousand so lmk if that's too long. As always I hope you enjoy!

Katara liked her clinic. It was clean, efficient, and had plenty of supplies.

What she didn’t like was her co-founder of the clinic

Meilin was a nice girl, a _really_ nice girl. Anytime Katara had a problem Meilin would fix it. She took all of Katara’s problems off her hands in a matter of minutes. While Katara appreciated this she also wanted to work out the problems, to feel like she was doing work around here to _build_ the clinic, not just work in it.

“I think we have enough supplies that we should be able to open this week!” Meilin’s excited words broke her out of her thoughts.

“That's great! Now we just need-”

“To get the King to agree to give us funding.” Meilin interrupted, ``Don't worry, an old friend of mine is coming to the city and will help us get an audience with him.”

Katara clenched her hands behind her back, the only part of her body showing her frustrations with the other water bender. Katara, afraid her voice would betray her, smiled and nodded hoping the girl would understand that she understood.

As Meilin started to rattle off about their plan for the opening day Katara once again got lost in her thoughts.

_An old friend? Hell I’m an old friend of the King’s!!! I saved his ass with Sokka and…. I can’t believe she just went ahead without asking me, I mean I could have easily gotten an audience with the King. I don't need a friend of hers who I don't even know to help us._

“Meilin,” Katara started, “If you don’t mind me asking who is this old friend of yours? I mean not that I don’t trust you and your friends, I’d just feel more comfortable if I at least met them.”

Meilin walked out of the tiny closet she had gone into to check the supplies and started to twist her hair around her finger. It wasn’t like the water tribe girl to be nervous, she always had a backup plan or even in times of struggle she somehow remained calm. This was the first time in two months since Meilin had come to her with an idea that about setting up a clinic did Meilin seem anxious

“Oh just a friend from when I lived in the Northern water tribe you know…” Meilin said.

Katara made a face, “An ex?”

The comment made Meilin turn a bright pink and twist her hair even faster if that was possible. “No, no he’s just a friend nothing ever happened.”

“Well is he a water bender? Maybe he could help us out here for a few days.”

“He can’t bend” Meilin’s voice was growing higher the more questions Katar asked

“How does he even know the King then? Did he ever visi-”

Suddenly there were screams outside of the building they were in. Both girls rushed out, pouches ready for a fight or for healing. It turns out a young woman was carrying a child whose leg and arm seemed to be broken.

“Please!” The woman called, “My son, he fell off the roof and landed on his side, I can’t afford to take him anywhere and I heard there was a free clinic here. Can you please help him?”

Katara didn’t waste any time and gently grabbed the boy from his mother’s arms. Meilin moved to open the door so Katara could lay the boy down.

“Meilin get the bucket of water from the storage closet! I’ll start on his arm and you take his leg.” Katara called out, though Meilin was already next to her, bucket in hand.

Her hands moved the water onto the boy's arms and tugged on that hurt that came to her any time she saw anyone hurt. After a few minutes of feeling where the bone had broken and healing it to bend back together did Katara take her eyes off the boy's arm. His face was scrunched up in pain and sweat was beading from his forehead. That’s when she saw he had no hair. She was a little surprised, most boys she saw had a full head of hair at his age, and the one boy who didn’t….

The boy noticed her looking and gave her a crooked smile, “I woke up one day and wanted to be like Avatar Aang so I shaved my head.”

“Nearly gave me a fright,” The mother chimed in, “One day he had a head of gorgeous brown curls and the next nothing!”

Katara and Meilin couldn’t help but laugh, though Katara’s was a little forced. She encountered people talking about Aang, many times since their breakup. Always Katara pretended she didn’t mind and that Aang was a distant memory for her. Only the opposite was true, she saw him in the laughing children, she saw him in the sunsets that looked purple same as the ones when they had their kiss after the war was over.

But she couldn’t let those feelings linger;that would mean she's not over Aang and she had to be. So Katara looked away from the young boy and focused again on healing his arm.

...

After their day of healing the boy Katara and Meilin went to the Jasmine Dragon to calm down.

Unfortunately Iroh wasn’t there, he was back in the Fire Nation enjoying his vacation to spend time with family. Though he assured Katara before he left that he would be back before the first fall of snow.

Iroh had left a young man named Kang in charge of the shop. While the tea wasn’t as good as it used to be it certainly wasn't bad.

“Need a refill ladies?” Kang came up to the two girls sitting in a corner both.

It was a simple question but Katara couldn't hide the blush that came to her cheeks. “No, I think we’re good here.” She answered him. He gave her a brilliant smile and stared into her eyes a few more seconds until her blush turned red before leaving to go back to the kitchen.

Katara brought the cup up to her mouth, trying to disguise the heat in her cheeks as the heat from the tea, but Meilin knew better. She gave Katara a look before she kicked her under the table.

“Unbelievable,” Meilin whispered in case the boy came back. “You’ve barely exchanged words with him that aren’t about tea but both your faces seem like you’re talking about dating.”

The cup was moved closer to Katara’s face as Meilins words made her blush return. When she spoke her voice was muffled by the cup, “Nothing is going on with our faces.”

Meilin laughed, “Tell that to your cheeks.”

Both girls laughed a little and continued to have their tea. Katara had to admit she was growing to like the girl. So what if Meilin took on a lot of responsibility, Katara was willing to admit it did help create less stress for herself. In fact, she was growing to like the girl so much she offered to walk her home so they could talk longer.

Both girls enjoyed their walk, and their conversations even grew to talk about things other than work. Meilin talked about her sister, who couldn’t bend but had the heart of a lion. Katara in return talked about Sokka, describing his crazy eating habits and gift for humour.

It was during their talk of Meilin’s sister that the girls saw a figure, trying everything to get a house but kick down the door. The first one to recognize the figure was Meilin.

“Aang?” She bolted towards him and even jumped up when she reached him. His arms automatically came around her and he twirled her around.

“There you are!” His voice sounded the same as if did all those years ago to Katara. “I’ve been trying to get into the house with they key you gave me but it’s not working.”

Katara didn’t know what to do. Should she run away and hope he didn’t see her? Should she face him and remain civil? Yell at him? Should she make an excuse and leave?

Before she even had a chance to decide what to do he noticed her, “Katara is that you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if there's any spelling mistakes or if sentences are messed up, i hate reading my writing so rereading it was too painful so just overlook those mistakes


	3. Returning Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang and Katara gotta have a talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is about 2,000 words? kinda long? anyways Aangst ahead

Katara didn’t know what to do. She stood there frozen, acting like an idiot, it took her a full minute before she said anything, “Uh yeah, I'm sorry to intrude. I didn't know you were coming.” Katara secretly cursed Meilin under her breath. Why didn’t she tell Katara, Aang was coming?

“Is this you friend?” Katara asked. When Meilin didn’t answer her she clarified, “The friend who’s gonna have an audience with the King?” 

Meilin moved out of Aang’s arms which made Katara notice how long they held each other, it was a long time. “I’m sorry I lied, I just knew you guys weren’t on good terms and Aang wasn’t going to stay for long, just for him to help us and then go on his Avatar way.” she tried to give a chuckle at the end to lighten the mood but it came out as more of a strangled noise.

Katara couldn’t see her friends face, she wanted to know if Meilin was truly sorry or just lying about being sorry and her face was the key to finding out. Tentatively she took a few steps forward, enough steps that her friend's face was in view. When she took a minute to search her trying to see if she was lying all she found was concern and anxiety in her features. 

“I wish you had told me, but it's fine, I mean I don't own the earth kingdom Aang can go anywhere he wants to whether I'm there or not.” She tried to force her eyes to stay on her friend's face, tried to get rid of the urge all the way from her gut to look left at Aang. Eventually the urge won out and she looked at him.

He looked worse than the last time she saw him. He was hunching a little, his arms looking less buff, but his face was the real kicker. His face looked scrunched up in pain, as if holding Meilin up took energy out of him, which it shouldn’t have. Katara tried to force her concerned thoughts away and look at him at surface level. His robes were the same orange and yellow, same arrows, same places, and his eyes were still so hauntingly gray. 

No one spoke for the longest time, Aang was staring at Katara, Katara staring at Aang, and Meilin looking back and forth between the two. 

When Katara couldn't take the tension anymore she broke the silence, “Well I should be getting back, it's late. Goodnight.” Even to her ears the words sounded awkward, Though she didn’t care, all she wanted was to leave and pretend she had never run into the air bender, pretending this night never happened. 

As Katara left she heard murmurs coming from their mouths, she couldn’t make out what they were saying but the tone sounded worried. 

  
  


...

Aang hadn’t truly slept that night. Every time he could lull his mind into relaxing into sleep, he’d wake up thinking of her. 

After waking up five times, Aang decided that sleep wasn’t for him tonight. He opened up the windows, letting the cold air of ba sing se cool him down. It had been a little over three years since he had seen her. Her eyes had bore into him tonight, making him want to get down on his knees, and beg for forgiveness. He wanted to take her away from the listening streets into a house, any house, and talk to her about how sorry he was.s. Yet he just stood there like an idiot staring at her. 

He hated the effect she had on him, making him lose sense of time, making him lose his words, and making him lose his breath. And that was just from staring at her.

At first he tried to let himself think of her, let himself remember happy birthdays and calm nights of just being in another presence. Though it didn’t help ease his mind, if anything it made him more awake. So, half dressed he did the only thing he could think of to help calm him. Aang took his glider and soared out the window, high into the air going round and round in circles in hope he could stop thinking of the woman who never left his mind.

  
...

Meilin was showing him the clinic when he saw her again. She was wearing a simple short sleeve blue dress with airy pants on underneath, and hair hair was down with the loopies still attached to a small bun in the back. The second they made eye contact he looked away. 

Meilin noticed her friend's appearance and tried to pull Aang to the opposite side of the room while chatting about worthless things like how the weather’s been and how she’s excited for the clinic to open. 

Aang paid attention to every word she was saying like it was a prayer, maybe if he focused on Meilin then he wouldn’t focus on the girl on the other side of the room. 

After a few minutes of small chat Meilin got down to business. “Remind me again when you have the meeting with the Earth King. You better have everything I said memorized, this clinic is important to the community and will help so many people.”

Before Aang replied he noticed Katara was looking at him, waiting to hear what he was going to say, with a little bit of anger in her eyes. He made sure his voice was strong and calm, “I got it, I tell him how the people of this area will have a lower death rate and less people will go poor because they can’t afford the medicine and the supplies to care for those sick or hurt. I will remind him that as King he has a duty to his people to help keep them safe and healthy, and that this clinic will do both.”

He couldn’t help but notice after he replied that Katara still looked angry. His brain told him he shouldn’t but his heart said to go for it, “Are you okay with that?”

At first Katara said nothing, simply breathing a little heavier. Aang though she wasn’t going to reply and started to turn back to Meilin when she burst out, “You know what I am not okay with that. I should be the one talking to the King! We don’t need you to talk to the king, you aren't even part of the clinic. How can you vouch for how it will work if you barley know yourself?” 

Aang was surprised at her words, he had thought she might want the Avatars help, wouldn't his push for the clinic secured the funds? Though it was the surprise that caused him to hesitate and give Katara the perfect amount of time to run out of the clinic. 

Both Meilin and Aang surged forward after she left, trying to catch up to their friend and talk. Katara wasn’t even in the streets when they looked out, though Aang knew where she would go.

  
...

The Jasmine Dragon. It was a sort of home for Aang, he spent many days in the tea shop laughing with his friends, going on a casual first date with Katara. He physically shook as if to try to shake those memories off of him. 

He entered the shop, head held high and shoulder back. He was going to talk to Katara civilly about this and she nor he was going to run. 

The tea shop was big, but not giant. Aang found Katara in a matter of moments, she was in their old spot, the back corner closest to the Kitchen so they could talk to Iroh. Her shoulders were hunched over and fingers white clenching the cup. He was about to approach when a man came over, Irohs replacement, and started talking to Katara.

Aang hid in a booth trying to wait till the man was gone so he could talk to her. He didn’t want to pry, even though the only thing they might talk about was tea, but at the same time Aang wanted to hear what was happening.

He wished he had chosen a closer booth because this one was too far away. Though he did hear her laugh, the same laugh she’d give him when he told a dumb joke or made a funny face. Jealousy flared in his heart for a second, his breathing even started to decrease before he got a hold of himself. 

_Katara and I broke up, she can laugh with strange tall men if she wants to. Katara and I are broken up Katara and I are broken up Katara and I are broken up_ \--

Tall, dark mysterious man finally left Katara’s table and went back to the kitchen. Aang took his time walking to Katara’s table , trying to calm his nerves. 

“Can I sit here?” he asked.

She looked up from her tea, surprise flashed in her eyes though a civil calm soon took over. “If you must.”

“Katara,” her breath hitched and Aang tried to have an even calmer tone if that was possible. “I know we’re not on the best of terms right now but I want to help you and Meilin open this clinic, I’ll do anything you want, if you want me to back away I will, if you want to go instead of me I’ll get out of your way. Hell, I’ll even leave Ba Sing Se if you want. All I want to do is make sure you’re comfortable and okay.”

Katara had relaxed as his speech went on. She went from sitting up straight eyes staring at the wall, to relaxed and able to make eye contact with him. Eye contact with those pale gray eyes that held so much emotion, so many things she didn’t want to focus on. 

“Look,” she said, “You don’t need to leave Ba Sing Se, but I would appreciate it if you would allow me to come along with you to see the king.” Her words were rushed, she was almost breathless as she got out her sentence. 

He replied not even a second later, “Of course.” Then he thought his voice seemed a little too eager to be around her so he calmed down and continued “I think that would be good. You can discuss what will happen on the inside meanwhile I’ll talk about the political impact.”

Katara nodded and they stared at each other for a bit in silence. It wasn't a bad silence, but it wasn’t the silence they used to share. Neither of them did anything til Iroh’s replacement came and brought some green tea to Aang.

“Iroh told me if the Avatar was ever to come to the shop that I should give him his favorite, green tea.” The man said.

Aang searched for a name tag from the corner of his eye. Kang was the man’s name. “Thank you Kang, I appreciate it.” he gave him a smile before he brought the cup to his lips and took a sip. Before he could even tell Kang about what great tea it was he had disappeared, back into the kitchen.

“He moved fast huh.” Aang tried to start a convo.

She gave him a soft smile, “faster than you can say his name.” 

They both laughed and took sips of their tea. Eventually their conversations turned towards what to say to the King. They calmed around each other and talked, in a way they haven't talked in awhile. A way that made Aang's heartbeat a little fast and Katara blush a light pink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmk what u think! if i should never update again (i feel ya), if i should update again (ummm...)


	4. Two Steps Forwards, Another Backwards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so long it took me four hours to write it. I hope you like bad writing bc that's all there is this chapter! Thank u to Auds for editing it so i feel slightly less embarrassed publishing it. As always Im sorry and enjoy!

Too many things were reminding her of Aang. It was her fault, though. She had decided to stay in the house she and Aang had bought in Ba Sing Se. She still slept in the bed they had shared, used the same blankets and clothes she had kept there from last time. It was easy to forget about him before; she had been doing it for two years. 

Though now the house was all him. If she listened enough she swore she could still hear the sound of him moving around in the morning. Katara didn’t want to admit to herself that a small part of her was hoping to will those times back. When waking up didn’t seem like a chore and instead she knew there would be someone to greet her. 

Now Katara was left in an empty, quiet house that felt like home but at the same time didn’t. 

This morning felt especially lonely. Katara was in front of her mirror trying to make sure the dress fit just perfectly. She ran her hand down her dress, incessantly trying to smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles in the hopes that it would calm her nerves.

Maybe it was because the conference was sprung on her the night before, just nerves, or something else entirely, but Katara had so much anxiety over this meeting. In between smoothing her dress she repeated what she was going to say.

“Good morning, King Kuei. Aang and I are here to discuss the free clinic….”

She repeated the words so many times that her mouth began to get dry. Katara had decided to get some water for her mouth when there was a knock at the door. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and she really couldn’t stay to talk if one of her neighbors wanted to come over. 

In between walking to the door from the kitchen another knock came, more insistent this time. Even though no one could see her, Katara rolled her eyes.

_Someone’s eager._

Katara opened the door right has the person on the other side held their hand up to knock again. 

“Aang? What are you doing here?” Katara asked. She didn’t motion for him to come in nor did she come out.

The Avatar stared at her for a minute, taking in the sight of Katara in an old dress he hadn’t seen in years. Many thoughts came to mind and he wanted to say so many things such as, you look great, I came to pick you up, are you ready to go?

Instead, all he said was, “Dress.” 

For a few grueling seconds, Katara just stared at Aang. Why of all things did he say that? Does he think it doesn’t look good?

Before Katara could question Aang he clarified himself, “I'm sorry; what I mean to say was, your dress looks very nice and that I thought it might be nice if I escorted you to the King’s palace.” His face turned a little pink and he rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Thats nice, but how did you know where I lived?” Katara’s voice was a little stern, but calm.

“Oh, well,I figured you might stay at our old house— _the_ old house, I mean— and I asked Meilin before I left this morning.”

“You’re staying at Meilin’s?”

“Just on her couch for a few days.”

“And why did you think you shoul-”

Aang suddenly put his hands up, afraid his next words might cause the waterbender to fight him. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but could you ask me these questions while we walk? We might be a little late if we keep standing here.”

Now it was Katara’s turn to blush. Though this blush wasn’t out of love.

“Right. On our way, then.” She brushed past him to get to the street and started walking as fast as she could.

Neither of them said anything, simply walking in a silence that seemed to hold many questions— questions neither Katara or Aang were willing to answer.

Katara was a little disappointed. Last night with Aang had gone so well; they had had tea and laughed. Of course, they didn’t stray to personal conversations as they had a few moments ago. Katara just wanted that with Aang again, that casual conversation that had made her smile and laugh, especially if they had to work together. But they were both back at square one with each other. 

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice at first that Aang wasn’t beside her anymore. When she did notice, panic seized her heart. She immediately whipped her head over her shoulder, hoping he would be there just a few steps behind. Instead she found him a block away, breathing a little heavy and hunched over. 

Instincts took over and she ran to him, trying to find what was wrong. Aang threw his hands up in the air with an “I’m okay” type of signal.

Katara then stopped shortly in front of him, “Aang, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it's nothing. Just my leg is cramping and it hurts a little bit to walk. I should have brought Appa..”

“I can heal you; I always carry a bit of water with me.” Katara started to grab the pouch when Aang put a hand on her arm.

“Don’t worry; it’ll take too much time to heal it. If I just hobble a bit we’ll make it. We don’t want to make a bad impression for your business, do we?”The words were meant to be funny, a way to lighten the mood, but all they did was cause Katara’s concern for Aang to grow.

She decided not to say anything, but instead do something. Katara wrapped the hand of Aang’s bad side around his shoulder. Aang had grown since she met him. He was now a couple of inches taller than her, though she hoped the support of her shoulders had helped him even a little. 

They walked to the king and miraculously made it on time. Katara had questions, dozens of questions about Aang's leg, though she decided it would have to wait till after. 

A nice lady in a simple green dress welcomed them in, “The Earth King will see you now.”

Katara let go of Aang’s arm, and Aang tried to walk without giving the impression that he was in pain. 

The room was the same as the last time they had seen it. The same Earth Kingdom banners and marble floor, along with the gold and green throne in the exact same place. Even Bosco sat in his usual position beside his owner on the throne. 

“Aang! Katara! How good to see you guys again. I’ve heard a few things about this free clinic you’re creating and I’d like to just say that I’m very excited!”

King Kuei stepped down from the throne and shook their hands. Even Bosco moved to let Aang pet him. 

Once greetings were finished, Katara got immediately to the point. “Your majesty, Aang and I are here to discuss the business of setting up a free clinic in one of your cities. Now, we have already bought property in a low income area so that it'll be closer to those who need it. And my co-founder, Meilin, and I have already used our personal money to buy supplies. All we ask is that you give us a little money each month to keep the clinic afloat. It’ll help keep the death rates low. Meilin has already set up successful clinics in Omashu and they have gone incredibly well.” 

“Okay,” The King replied. 

Katara blinked. “That's it? No questions?”

King Kuei walked back to his throne, Bosco trailing along beside him. For dramatic effect, he didn’t speak until he had sat down. “You clearly have this all planned out; there’s no need for me to assist in any way but the money and you shall have that. Now, onto more pressing things.”

The King turned a glanced up and down at Aang. The airbender tried to shift his bad leg to look more normal and arranged his face into a blank state.

None of that had worked, unfortunately, “Aang,” the King started, “Your leg doesn’t look so good, what’s wrong?”

Aang’s face scrunched up. He racked his brain for a decent lie that would be convincing not only for Kuei, but for Katara— who was quite a bit more skeptical of, well, everything— as well. 

He decided the best way to go was to wing it. 

“Ahh, you see, when I woke up this morning, I fell off of the bed and onto my leg.” It was a horrible lie. Probably the most poorly executed lie he’d ever told. Although at least the King bought it, Aang didn’t want to look at Katara, for fear she’d be able to see the truth on his face. 

For a few moments Aang thought he was in the clear. The king seemed to believe him and he had agreed to give them funding. There was nothing else to discuss. 

Until the King got an idea. 

“Katara, why don't you heal Aang? I didn’t see Appa outside, who, by the way, you should bring next time. You know I love Appa. Anyway, I’d hate for you to walk back limping.“

Katara and Aang both looked partly surprised and partly dumbfounded. Whether the King knew it or not, he was ordering Katara to heal Aang.

All three people stared at each other, which was becoming the usual for Katara and Aang now. The Earth King waited expectantly while the pair just stared. 

Eventually Katara came to her senses and started to get water from her pouch to heal Aang's leg. Aang awkwardly sat on the ground so Katara had better access to it. Katara slowly came over and started to heal his leg.

She expected to find a sprain, something simple in his bones that would prove his falling story to be true. Though what she found was much worse. His bone was shattered in multiple places; it felt as if it had been healed before but not fully. For Katara to heal his leg so that it would work at normal function she would need hours, and Katara didn’t feel like sitting under the King's glaring watch for that long. She simply healed it to the best extent she could in ten minutes and declared it head. 

The King had simply marveled at her skills and apologized for keeping them long. When Aang got up to leave his walk was almost perfect, _almost._ Katara knew that in a few hours his leg would deteriorate again and he would be limping. 

Their walk back started the way their walk towards began, with silence. Both were afraid to speak. Aang didn’t want to mention his leg and Katara didn’t want to talk about his leg in a way that would shut him down. 

Aang decided to break the silence. “I think King Kuei wanted me to come just so he could see Appa.” 

Katara laughed. She couldn't help it because it was probably true. When Aang and Katara used to travel the world together, folks would marvel at Appa and beg Aang for a ride on him. 

“I think he was thinking about turning down our proposal when he saw that Appa wasn't here.” Katara replied.

Both of them broke out into hearty laughter, finding common ground on the giant bison. 

“Maybe I should bring Appa up here tomorrow to keep him happy.”

“Let me join, maybe he'll be so in love with Appa that I can ask him for more funding and to create more clinics!”

The two of them were having so much fun, and it was a comfortable kind of fun. So Aang decided to do something a little bold. 

“Hey I just want to thank you for healing my leg back there. I know the situation was a little awkward with the King watching, but I appreciate it.” Aang tried to make his voice strong. He looked towards her after he spoke, and when she caught his eye, he took his chance and hugged her.

Katara was surprised. She and Aang these past few days had been so careful to avoid getting near one another, if you exclude the times Aang needed help. When Aang first hugged her she merely stood there, frozen. Then, she melted and hugged him back, her arms reaching around his torso to clasp her hands behind his back. 

For a moment, one simple moment, Aang and Katara seemed good. They weren’t mad or thinking about their issues. All they were thinking of was how much they had both missed the other’s embrace.

For Aang, their hugs signified stability. It kept him grounded and allowed him to feel the person he loved secure and safe in his arms. It had been three years since he’d hugged Katara and it didn’t hit him until now how much he missed it.

For Katara, their hugs were an act of trust. She allowed herself to let down her guard in his arms. She didn’t think of what to say or do, just let instinct guide her. There were few people Katara let herself feel this way with when she hugged them, and Aang was one of them.

The two were locked together for a full minute before Katara pulled away. They smiled at each other and continued walking to their old house, staying on the safe topics of Appa and their friends. 

Though the warmth between the two didn’t last. Katara noticed Aang’s leg start to limp again, and his face gave away that he was in pain. 

“Why did you lie to the King?” Katara asked bluntly.

Aang rubbed his head, trying to think of a good excuse. “As much as I like the King, we aren't close. He doesn't need to know why my leg is hurt.” 

Katara wasn’t buying it. “I felt your bones, Aang, they're broken and shattered in so many places. Is it just your leg or are your other bones like this? What happened to you?”

A sigh escaped Aang. He wanted to avoid this topic. They were doing so well! He had hugged her and he was even thinking of apologizing for their issues before he left tomorrow. Now he had to lie again. 

“Ahh I had a fight with someone a few months ago and they just injured my leg badly; that’s part of my reason for coming to see Meilin.” So technically he said a white lie, which was better than a flat out lie. 

“Why didn’t you come to me?” 

When Aang turned towards her he saw hurt in her eyes. Hurt that he didn’t come to her for help. He couldn’t help the anger that was rising in him. “You know you were the one who said never to contact or see you again. I was simply respecting what you wanted.”

“Well if you're hurt then that rule doesn't apply!! I’m the best healer possibly in the world, and you needed me.” Katara’s voice had grown. She was no longer having a civil conversation with him over Appa.

“How was I to know that being hurt did not apply?” Aang yelled back.

“Maybe if you used your brain you would have known!”

“Maybe if you had just reached out to me at least _once_ I would have come, but you didn’t.” Aang was mad. Mad that she never tried to talk to him. Mad that she pretended he didn’t exist for years. And he was mad that he was the one left with hurt feelings.

Before Katara could reply, he stormed away like a child. He didn’t want to have this conversation with her here, out in the open. Katara called after him, yet he could sense she made no move to run after him. Just like she did all those years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter i think (im writing it as we speak) is gonna have a lil angst then a lil more fluff than usual. My first thoughts for these notes way to say how i hallucinated a bug while writing this chapter, turns out I didnt. anyways see you soon!


	5. Unfair Agreements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fight scene at the beginning is so horrible, honestly just know he got into a fight and skip over it. also i know i promised fluff turns out i lied!!! i meant to refer to chapter six sorry. As always im sorry and enjoy!

Aang was in a bad mood, such a bad mood he even considered not fighting the thief. 

He was on his way to the market to get food for Meilin’s dinner later on when he saw them. A man was distracting the seller while the other man was pocketing the apples into his sack with other stolen vegetables, which were likely also stolen. 

At first Aang hesitated, just staring at the two men. The already paranoid man stealing the apples looked over his shoulder to find the Avatar staring at him. Safe to say this was the reason the men fled. 

Aang ran after them, slightly limping from the pain in his leg, and caused the earth to jutt up right in front of the men, then on the other sides of the street. He cornered them, forcing them to try to scale a building, from which they promptly fell off. 

“Stop!” Aang yelled, “Return the stolen fruit and we won’t have a problem.” 

The men looked scared. They had nowhere to run but towards the avatar, and that's what they did. 

If Aang had been his old self,  _ his best self,  _ he thought, then he would have defeated them within seconds. 

But now Aang could barely breathe, and each breath felt like a stabbing pain. 

One man headed for the avatar straight on while the other tried to go to the side. Aang used his airbending to try to push them back, but what should have been a strong force of air was only a gust of it. The men forced the avatar to the ground which created bruises along Aang’s skin.

In a last attempt to catch the men and save face he tried to earth bend rocks all around them so they would be stuck. Thankfully it worked and the men were trapped. 

Aang got up trying to hide the pain and the bruises growing along his kin when the police came. Usually Aang found the police annoying, but today he was grateful that they were able to take over a mission he probably couldn't finish. 

Before anyone could ask Aang what was wrong with him he disappeared. 

...

Aang limped down the back streets of Ba Sing Se, hoping no one would see the hurt Avatar and call for him. He had to take a break every few minutes to catch his breath and massage his leg.

_ Why is that stupid clinic so far away? _

A route that should have taken 15 minutes to pass through instead took 45. When Aang finally showed up to the clinic he noticed it was pretty packed; people were coming in and out of the building within a matter of minutes. Aang didn’t want anyone to see the Avatar in pain and freak, but at the same time this was the closest place he could go to for healing that wasn’t Meilin’s house. 

Aang mustered up all of his remaining willpower and tried to walk as casually as he could. This, of course, failed as people on the street soon began to gossip that the Avatar was hurt.

“I heard he was in a fight earlier,” one woman said.

A man replied to the woman, “I heard the fight was simply earth bending, he didn’t even need to use his legs to fight.”

Ignoring these words Aang marched on, head held high, into the clinic where he immediately ran into someone. 

“Oof, sorry.” His reflex response to these situations.

When Aang looked at the person he had bumped into it was none other than Katara herself. Her eyes were filled with annoyance and her mouth was open as she started to think of something to reply back. Until she looked at him.

Katara, being the healer she was, knew there was something wrong. His breath was quick and short, his legs both bent as if the pressure of the rest of his body were overwhelming them, and his face was red with exhaustion. 

“Are you okay?” She asked, her venomous words discarded. Instead, she used ones of worry. Katara started to put her hands on his arms, chest, and stomach to see if there was any more damage. 

This made Aang’s face even more red, “Um, Katara, is it okay if I talk to you in a quiet area? Away from prying eyes.”

Katara nodded her head and led him through the clinic to the back room. The room was small, though it had enough space to hold a small couch. The walls were wood and rotting a little. Aang paid no attention to anything in the room but the table in front of the couch that held cups of water for the water benders to drink on break. 

Katara guided him to the couch, her eager eyes looking at him, trying to disconcert what would damage the avatar. 

When both of them had sat down and Aang had drunken two whole cups of water did they discuss the issues at hand.

“Aang,” Katara started, “before you say anything just know I won’t help you unless you tell me the truth. Not half of the truth, not part of it. I need to know all of it. Or those legs you use will continue to deteriorate.”

Her words hung heavy in the air. 

Aang weighed his options. If he told Katara, his legs would be healed. He could finally fight and use his body without feeling like his bones would break at any second. Though Katara would know he lied to his friends and her. 

But if he left now Meilin could still help heal him. Unfortunately Meilin was not the best healer. She could help a lot, but that wouldn't guarantee that his bones would fully heal. 

“It's not a long story,” Aang said.

Katara sat up. She was a little shocked he was going to tell the truth after his history of lying. She tried to ignore it but there was a hunger in her gut to hear him talk about this. She wanted so badly to be his closest confidant again as she had been years prior. Katara, as said, ignored that feeling and put on a blank face, ready for his story.

“I was in the earth kingdom, I had finished helping to set up a new government in an up and coming area. Though I had another reason for going there. This was this bloodbender on the loose. Reports of his victims were around that area.”

I stayed there for a month, waiting for a full moon to be able to catch him in the act. Little did I know I was about to be his next puppet. The moon was full and grew in the sky, I waited around to see if any reports of anyone missing or any screaming could be heard.”

That's when I felt it. I lost control of my body. I was able to fight him off for a little while. I even trapped one of his feet in rock. Of course as I was distracted doing that he used his blood bending to break my bones. Almost all of my bones.”

The worst of it is in my legs and chest. It hurts to breathe, walk, and move every day.”

While Aang had taken a breath to continue Katara grabbed his hands. She didn’t even realize she was doing it until she held his hands in her tightly and could feel his heat radiating off him. 

Aang lost his words for a minute at the feeling of her touch. For most of his story he had looked at the walls or floor, anything but her. Her touch made him strong. And it was because of that, that Aang looked Katara in her eyes to finish his story. 

“The bloodbender thought I was dead, and at the time I wished I was. He left me to my fate, running off to where he hid. Thankfully a water bender was near, she heard my cries and came to help me. I was flown on Appa to the Northern water tribe where they hid me from prying eyes andMeilin healed me.”

I didn’t tell anyone for the first few months because I couldn’t even write. And then when I could, I didn’t want to admit what had happened. I’m supposed to be this all powerful being. and yet I couldn’t even fight one man.”

I lied to everyone. Told them I was on vacation. I wrote you a letter though I didn’t think you would want it or read it. I’m sorry for all the lies and the hiding. I’m sorry for what happened before too, for how I wasn’t as open with you as I should have been.”

Katara was holding his hands so tight her knuckles were white. She was trying hard not to cry, to be strong for him. 

There were a million words that came to mind, none she felt brave enough to speak.

“From what I can tell your bones are severely fractured. Meilin did a pretty good job though it won’t be enough.”

Katara stopped herself. She knew what she  _ wanted  _ her next words to be.

_ I’ll help heal you if you want. I don’t want to see you hurt like this. And maybe we can heal what we once broke. _

But she realized what she was doing. She was falling under his spell again. His stupid, charming spell. She was starting to open her heart up to him. Grabbing his hand and offering to help. Katara knew the path this would lead to since she had been down it before. 

Slowly she removed her hands from his. She broke their eye contact and instead focused on her nails. She couldn’t see his face, didn’t want to because she knew if she did she would say what she wanted. 

Katara took a deep breath and said what she should say. “I’ll help heal your bones, every last one. Though when the final bone has healed you have to leave. We need to go back to how it was. Avoiding each other and remaining civil.” 

Aang turned away, hurt. He finally thought him and Katara were getting somewhere. Sure they fought a few times but they did have their good moments. 

Aang respected Katara, and because of that he forced his body back towards her and caught her eyes. He made his features blank, trying to hide the pain in his eyes. 

“I accept.” 

Aang stood up and started to walk his way to the door, his limp back causing him to move excruciatingly slow to the door. 

“Come by later tonight.” Katara said, stopping Aang before he opened the door. “An hour after the clinic closes.”

The avatar snodded, not even saying a word as he left the clinic.

Once he was gone Katara let out a breath of air she didn’t know she was keeping. This was the right thing to do she reassured herself. She needed to put some distance between Aang and herself. This was good, she tried thinking. But why did her heart feel so heavy? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is like the third or second chapter ive ended with them kinda upset with each other, sorry. Also when i say im gonna update mondays and fridays i mean on those days at 2 am bc im too ashamed to write this in broad daylight. next chapter is more soft i promise.


	6. Trust Blooms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i held true to my promise there is fluff and flirting here! as you can see i decided to have this story be 12 chapters (a bonus chapter is gonna be number 11 bc ending on a uneven number other than 5 sounds horrible) this chapter was my favorite to write and i actually read it and liked it! as always im sorry and enjoy!

Katara had to admit, she was a little nervous. She didn’t trust the way she acted around Aang: blushing, smiling, laughing. It felt a little too good to be true.

At the same time, she didn’t know how she was going to be alone with him and not talk. Aang seemed to have a way to be able to get her lips lucid.

She had checked three times over if they had enough supplies and was considering doing it a fourth time when Aang came in.

He wore looser clothing than usual.

_ Probably so he can remove it easily. _

The thought made Katara blush a bright pink. She turned her head, trying to cover her face until it settled down.

_ Loose so I can get access— _

Katara really was on a roll. She chided herself for her thoughts and tried again to get it right.

_ He’s wearing loose clothing so I can get access to his skin more quickly so I can heal him. _

Her breathing finally calmed down after she wrangled her thoughts and turned to face him.

“Just sit down at that cot over there and then we’ll discuss what needs the most attention.” She gestured to the cot.

Aang sat down lightly, ever the twinkle toes, and awkwardly stared at the ground. 

Katara grabbed the supplies out of the closet and sat down next to him. Aang, since he was on the cot and naturally taller than her, towered over her. It was a little intimidating.

Aang cleared his throat. “Um, so, the healers in the Northern Water Tribe healed my arms pretty well, but my chest and my legs still need a lot of work. Preferably my chest first because the pain makes it hard to breathe.” 

Katara’s heart ached a little when she heard him describe the pain and the damage done to his body, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she lightly put her hands on his chest to push aside his monk clothing to get to his chest. 

She couldn’t hide her pink blush this time.

There was no time to focus on how muscular his chest was or how a few bruises had bloomed there from the fight earlier that day. Katara focused all of her energy and thought into his chest. There were small cracks all over it, some healed, some one good push away from crumbling. 

After what felt like hours of using her bending to heal Aang, Katara had finally mitigated most of the damage done. All that was left was little cracks.

This part didn’t require much attention. Katara had free will to look or do whatever she wanted except move her hands. She decided to look up at Aang and see how he was fairing. 

Though what she expected to find was a man in pain, instead was Aang looking at her with a soft look in his eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Katara couldn't help it as the words flew out of her mouth. 

Maybe it was because he felt less pain, or maybe it was because he was tired, that Aang answered directly. “Whenever you heal you always get this glow to you. It's mesmerizing.” 

Maybe it was because Katara felt good after healing, or maybe it was because she didn’t want to back down, that Katara replied, “You always found my looks charming. I should have figured that wouldn’t change in three years.” 

Both of them remained staring at each other, wearing smirks that reached their eyes. No one said anything more or made any moment, all they did was stare.

When Katara had fully healed his chest, she looked away, bending the water back into the bucket. The smirking Katara who had flirted was gone, the spell broken.

Katara was now back to being a healer and started to ask Aang questions while prodding his chest. 

“How does your chest feel?”

“Good. Better. Better than it has in a year,” Aang answered. His voice had a happy tone to it.

“And how is your breathing?”

“It's good; you know it was bad when an air bender had a hard time breathing.”

It was a dumb joke, one of Aang’s worst, but Katara laughed. Her guard eased down as she laughed at his dumb joke. Aang smiled broadly at her laughter, feeling proud he was able to elicit such a noise from her. 

“Well,” Katara started, “It’s getting a little late, but I can start healing one of your legs if that sounds good?”

“Perfect.”

Katara put her game face back on and bent the water into her hands. When the water made contact with his leg, she felt the damage that was there. It was truly horrible. 

She had just started to concentrate when Aang asked her, “What’s your favorite part of Ba Sing Se? Other than Iroh’s tea shop of course.”

She was trying to focus on healing him and talking so it took a minute for her to reply.

“I love the sunsets here,” Katara finally answered. “They’re unlike any other in the world. The Sunsets here are Purple and pink and orange and, hell even green sometimes!” 

Katara snuck a glance at Aang to see him dreamily staring up at the ceiling as if he was looking through it to see the sunset she was describing. Neither of them knew if the other noticed she was describing the sunset of their kiss after the war. 

“The sunsets are so beautiful here, so many good memories made under them.” Aang slightly hinted. “I also love the people. After Long Feng was thrown out, the people started to talk again. To have lively conversations about so many topics. I actually had a boy come up to me yesterday and ask if I could help name his pet frog!” He laughed.

“Well, now I have to know, what did he name it?”

Aang took his attention away from the ceiling and looked at Katara, “I named him Pippinpaddleoppsokopolis the Fourth.”

They both burst out laughing, Aang taking full advantage of finally being able to breathe like a normal person. 

“Did he agree to keep that name for the frog?”

“Oh, no, he decided to name it Lee.”

The pair kept talking for what felt like a few minutes, but it was actually hours. The water bender’s attention was fading from the leg; she was starting to become more interested in what Aang was saying. Yet her healing wasn’t stopping. If Katara had noticed, she would have found that as their conversation flourished, so did her healing powers.

Her powers especially began to flare with power when their conversations turned to flirting. 

“You're telling me,” Aang said, “That a young child asked you on a date as a dare?!?”

“Yes!!” Katara responded. “And what was worse is he couldn’t even go through with the dare, he said I’d be too boring to date.”

“Tell me his name; I’ll let him know how adventurous it is to date thee powerful bender Katara.” 

“And here I was thinking you’d agree with him.”

“Dating you was the highlight of my life. You were always making me laugh and taking me on wild adventures. Some of which you had to drag me too!”

Katara’s face was fully red, she was remembering all those days she dragged Aang out of board meetings and those nights where it seemed like dawn would never come for them.

She wanted to reply and say how she also remembers him taking her on spontaneous rides on Appa and the nights he kept her up till dawn. Though the thought of saying those words made the butterflies in her stomach flip. 

She decided to go a neutral route, trying to calm her nerves. “Well, if you must know, his name is Peng and he lives in the northern part of Ba Sing Se.” She felt more stable saying those words, yet her heart sunk as she wished she had been a little flirtier. 

“Ahh, maybe he lives near Meilin and we can give him a talk.” Aang joked.

“I see you and Meilin have been getting close.” The words should have been kept to herself, but that old part of her was a little jealous of how much Aang and Meilin had hung out. How he had twirled Meilin around and how he had held onto her after the hug ended.

As if sensing her jealousy, Aang looked away. “We’ve been friends ever since she started healing me. I love her sense of humor and how kind she is, and I missed her after she left. I mean, she was one of the only people I had when I was hurt. I’ll always be grateful for her for that.” 

_ No one was there for you because you didn’t let anyone be there for you. _

Katara’s thoughts had turned sour. She tried to steer them on a happier path but all she found was more anger. 

Katara decided to remain civil, instead of speaking her mind she simply said, “that’s nice,” effectively cutting off the conversation.

She focused her attention back on his leg, trying to tune out her thoughts and instead focus on his bones. Katara actually had to stifle a gasp when she felt his bones, what should have been cracked and shattered bone was smooth and almost healed. It had taken half the time his chest had.

“Your left leg is almost fully healed. You might be limping a little bit.” Katara decided to play it cool. She was the best healer in the world, who knows? Maybe her healing got even better?

“Hey, I’ll take limping over looking like I’m about to drop at any second,” Aang tried joking.

Katara thankfully smiled. “You didn't look like you were about to collapse." When Aang gave her a pointed look, a soft laugh fell from her lips. “Maybe it looked a little like you were gonna fall at any minute. Only a little.”

Aang stood up and he immediately noticed the difference in his leg. What once held only pain and discomfort now felt fresh and strong.

“Thank you, Katara, for these sessions. I don’t think I’d actually be able to fight again if it weren't for you.” 

She smiled at his comment and moved to show him to the door, “Well, if the Avatar can’t fight then who’s gonna show the kids how much of an amazing girlfriend I'd be?”

Aang smiled, “Probably another man who was vying for your attention.”

He opened the door and was halfway out when he noticed how dark it was. He knew that he and Katara had been in there for a couple of hours but he thought it would only be the blue hour when they'd finished.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“I guess I was having too much fun. I didn’t notice how late we hung out. Anyways, I guess goodnight then!” 

Katara smiled at him while he moved down the street, slightly limping but still walking with a stride.

As Katara closed the door, she let down her cool mask and smiled. She smiled for so long after he left that her cheeks hurt. This was exactly the type of thing she was worried would happen. 

She decided from now on that she wouldn't flirt with him and would be calmer. Though, for tonight, she let herself think over everything he'd said and remember the way he'd said her name and laughed with her. She didn’t want this feeling to end, the feeling of talking to someone who understood her _._

As she went to bed that night she tried to cast all thoughts of Aang away, to focus on simple things such as the clinic and groceries she needed to buy.

Yet her dreams were filled with brilliant grey eyes and a charming young man who danced with her till they both dropped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ngl next chapter is gonna be similar to this one but theres gonna be more drama and its gonna help push the story forward. also sorry this was posted late friday night, i usually post at 2 am but my friend hadn't edited this till 20 mins ago. (love u auds) anyways lmk what u think!


	7. Head Over Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey i’m sorry this is a few days late i have a severe case of swimmers ear so writing while in pain is not that fun i’m sorry. this chapter is a lot like the last one but it pushed the story forward. As always i’m sorry and enjoy!

A week had passed since Aang and Katara started healing together. 

The pair avoided each other during the day, scared that their protective bubble of being alone at night would ruin the good relationship they had going.

Katara couldn’t help but open her ears anytime Meilin casually mentioned Aang. Meanwhile, Aang tried to be more subtle, making jokes in the hopes that Meilin would reveal how Katara and the clinic were doing without directly asking.

The pair would spend every other night meeting in the clinic, talking in hushed voices about their days, and remembering their travels with the rest of their friends. 

The last patient of the day finally left to go home with her family and Katara felt satisfied. She had healed dozens of patients today and while she was a little tired, she was ready to have her meetings with Aang. 

She had begun to enjoy their meetings. They never flirted too seriously, though there was always flirting. Katara loved talking to Aang, he always seemed to make mundane things seem funny, make her smile, or just share peaceful silence with her. 

When Katara looked around the clinic to start setting things up for Aang’s arrival, she noticed that Meilin was still there. And so was Aang.

…

  
  


Aang was sitting next to Meilin helping her clean up clothes while she rambled. 

“So this guy was being so annoying saying he could take the pain and that he just wanted to go home to his family. I mean, I had to body block him from leaving! And this guy was a tall dude. Anyway, I was able to get him to sit and I healed his head in a matter of minutes. Would you believe that even after I healed him he still said that it was no big deal and that he could’ve lived with the pain!?”

Aang gave her a soft laugh and started to fold the blankets she had piled up after cleaning. “I like that guy, he sounds nice.”

“Well, of course you like that guy, the whole point of me telling you this story is because he reminds me of you!”

“I would let you heal me.”

“Oh, please,” Meilin laughed and elbowed his arm, “remember the first time you tried writing those letters and you tried to lie about the pain in your hand. And then the second time you tried writing them you felt in ‘tip-top shape’ but couldn't use your hands to push yourself up on the bed?”

Aang scratched the back of his head, his nervous tick coming in handy when he needed to hide his blush. Before he could even reply, defending himself, Meilin started to speak again.

“I know this is out of the blue, well maybe not  _ that _ out of the blue, but would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow. We could go to that new place that opened near my house?”

When Aang turned to look at her, he found her already staring back. Her brown pin-straight hair was covering a portion of her face but the redness was still visible. When Aang looked into her brown eyes all he saw her hope, and he couldn't crush that hope.

Aang smiled at Meilin, “That sounds lovely! Does 6pm sound good to you?” 

“Yes! Perfect! I’ll take care of setting up a reservation, don't even worry. Okay, I gotta go but Thank you!” The girl threw her arms around Aang and held on tightly. Aang couldn’t help but hug her back. 

When she left, Aang felt the dread in his heart. He liked Meilin, she was so nice to him and was engaging in conversation.

_ Then why does it feel like I'm walking to my death thinking about this date? _

Aang was still in his thoughts when Katara cleared her throat. 

He looked up to find her twisting a towel around in her hands, her knuckles white from the force she was using. When she caught him staring she dropped the towel in the bucket and motioned him over. 

“Sorry, it's been a long day, let's get started.”

Aang moved to the cot near her and laid down. He wanted to speak, to have a casual conversation as they had been doing every other day. But something about Katara felt off.

She was working on his arm, something that shouldn’t have taken that much concentration, yet her face was all scrunched up. 

“Now doc, don’t tell me I'm dying.” Aang didn’t know how to get out of uncomfortable situations but with a joke. Sometimes they worked on Katara, sometimes they didn’t.

Katara didn’t even hear. She kept healing with that same strained face plastered all over her features. 

“Katara?” Aang asked. 

At the mention of her name, Katara looked up at him and his worried expression. She softened a little. “Sorry, again, I’m just…. Tired. Yeah, I'm tired.”

“If you want we can stop.” He offered.

“No, no, I'm fine, don't worry.”

Aang knew this side of Katara. He knew something was bothering her, something that she couldn’t find a simple solution to. He used to talk about her feelings with her. Used to. Now he knew it wasn’t his place. 

But maybe he could still try to cheer her up?

“I found those kids you said got Peng to ask you on a date.” He offered as a start to a conversation. 

Katara’s head flipped up from looking down at his arm, “You actually went looking for them?”

“No, they were walking around the neighborhood talking about how funny it was and how they should get Peng to ask you again just to see your reaction. I decided maybe we could have a chat.”

“You didn’t…”

“I did. I told them that they were lucky Katara of the southern water tribe would be so gracious to give a talk to them. And that they should apologize to you immediately. I also happened to tell them the story of you defeating Azula in battle. After that, I heard them bickering about who would be the one to talk to you first.”

“I can’t believe you!” Katara said, but there was no malice behind her words. In fact, Katara was actually laughing. 

“You know, I saw a group of boys standing outside the window earlier, I was too busy healing to get a good look at them.”

“No way,” Aang said breathlessly as he laughed. This is what he wanted. A simple, funny conversation with the girl who always made him smile.

Katara went back to healing his arm, a smile playing on her face for a few minutes unable to get the thought of Aang telling children the story of how she defeated Azula. He wasn’t even there. 

Aang hoped she wasn’t noticing him because if she did she would have found him goofily staring at her smile. A smile he caused her. It was such a little thing but Aang was proud of himself. 

He let the comfortable silence hang in the air while he thought of another joke. Another joke that would hopefully cause her to laugh, something that was becoming one of his favorite sounds again. 

_ I've missed that,  _ Aang thought. 

“Missed what?” Katara asked.

Aang’s eyes went wild as he realized what he just did.

“Your laugh.” He blurted.Aang’s heartbeat quickened. Why did he have to say that? He could have lied! He could have said he missed his arm feeling better but instead he said that!

“I just,” Aang was making an attempt to explain the words he had just expelled, “It’s just a nice sound. It reminds me of the feeling of home, you know? I've been stuck in the northern water tribe for so long. And not just the past year, I’ve missed your laugh since we broke up. But not like in an obsessive way just like a sound that brought me comfort and made me feel safe. Anyways, I don’t know why I’m saying all of this. I’m just going to sit quietly now.”

Aang could not believe what he just said. He basically wrote a love poem for her laugh just without the formatting of it. 

He tried not to look at her, tried to at least not make this situation more humiliating. Though his need to know if he just blew their friendship took over and he looked.

He looked and he was glad he looked.

Katara was smiling, her cheeks blush, and her mouth closing and opening trying to form words. Instead of a calm response, Katara formed her own sort of poem.

“I mean, I’ve missed your laugh, too. It reminds me of the days when we were younger traveling the world. We were younger, then, and our laughter was so free. And even after the war and after the political and avatar stuff we had to deal with your laughter was always free. It reminded me of freedom and such carefree happiness. I mean like you said, too, I haven't been obsessively thinking about it but it did hit me over years when people would laugh at jokes and I would expect your carefree and unbound laughter but all I would receive is a short tight laugh and I would always get disappointed. So I’m glad too that I get to hear your laugh.”

Aang was broadly smiling and he didn’t care. Katara felt the same way about him, well, about his laugh. But she’d actually missed him those years he thought she hated her. 

Katara saw his face and laughed, which caused Aang to laugh. And suddenly Katara had stopped healing and was holding his arm while she convulsed from laughing. Meanwhile, Aang was rocking up and down a little.

The two were a mess. There were tears in both their eyes. They both felt that happy feeling they said they got when they heard each other laugh. 

Aang was happy, Happier than he had been in so long. A smile stayed on his face even though they both had stopped laughing and Katara had moved onto his other bad leg.

For the next half an hour they talked and laughed. Their hearts started to grow attached to one another and they both didn’t want to leave yet. 

Katara would never admit it outright, but she was slowing her healing process a little so they could continue their time together. 

The spell of their laughter broke when Aang started to talk about a memory of the south pole. When he was practicing and with a friend and he strained his wrist so badly that Meilin said that he’d hurt him worse than when Bohai did.

At the mention of Meilin’s name, Katara grew that frustrated face again. 

She tried to engage in the conversation but didn’t have the heart to say anything more than, “Oh that good.”, “Oh that's bad.” “Oh wow.” over and over again.

Aang was noticing and started to grow quiet. They had come so close to having another perfect healing session! And Aang didn’t even know why Katara grew so upset all of a sudden.

“So,” Katara started cautiously, but also a little jealously. “I heard you and Meilin are going on a date? Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop earlier, you guys were just so close that I heard everything.”

“No don’t worry,” Aang said. “It’s fine. And yes we are going on a date.”

At the thought of Meilin, Aang’s heart dropped a little. He realized that since they were going on a date, he should probably stop flirting with Katara. It just didn’t feel right.

“Are you excited?” Katara prodded him for more information, and it felt like she was asking the questions his brain was also asking. Except now he had to answer.

“Yeah, it should be fun, I mean I always have a good time with her.” Aang said the words yet felt they lacked depth. He added on, “I mean I love talking to her about cultures, and our travel stories are always the best to compare. She’s gotten in so many crazy situations. I'm usually in tears laughing over them. The date will be a good way to talk about those things but in a different setting.” 

Aang hoped to find Katara’s face calm. Isn’t this what she wanted? She wanted him gone and away from her. Well, now he was emotionally distancing himself from her. 

_ Wait, it's because I'm dating her co-worker.  _

Aang figured out what was wrong. Well, what he thought was wrong.

“I'm so sorry, I should have asked you before I answered if I could say yes, I mean, she is your co-worker and you probably don’t want me in your life more than you have to.” Aang hoped his words would calm character, or get her to stop biting her lip.

Three excruciating minutes passed. At first, Aang thought maybe she didn't hear him. But he was right in front of her, how could she not hear him? Then he thought her silence was disapproval of his apology. And by the third minute, his mind had racketed so many ideas he didn’t know which were too crazy and which ones could work.

But as the fourth minute came to a head, Katara spoke.

“It’s fine! I mean, I think you guys would be cute together.” Her features were calm and precisely neutral.

Aang, meanwhile, had confusion written all over his face. “You do?” The words flew out of his mouth. He always was the impulsive one. 

“Yeah,” She said, moving her eyes to meet his. “You guys will be so happy, it’ll be good for both of you.”

It was like she’d planned this conversion. Her features revealed nothing.

“Oh, thank you, it means a lot,” Aang replied before ripping his eyes away from hers to stare at the ceiling.

His heart hurt. It felt like it had been punched a thousand times and all he wanted was for the pain to end, instead, more punches came.

He should agree with her. This date was good! He even thought before that he should be moving on. But Katara actually saying the words made him want to cancel the date immediately.

For the rest of the meeting he stayed silent, and so did she. Neither wanted to talk for both feared that their true feelings would be shown sooner or later. 

Katara finally had to speak when she was done healing his leg. 

“Your leg should be good. I mean it's not fully fixed, but you probably want to get home to Meilin.” She tried so,  _ so  _ hard to hide the venom in her words. 

Aang didn’t even respond. He simply got up and left. No goodbye, no thank you. Just leaving.

Katara sat there for a few minutes longer before she started to clean up and go home.

Aang, meanwhile, went on a ride on his glider. He tried to clear his mind. Tried to pretend that this date would be good, that he should be happy. 

When he came from gliding, opting to skip dinner, Aang went straight to his room. Meilin was deep in sleep so he didn’t need to worry about trying to hide his pain in his face. Again, before going to sleep he tried to turn his mind to neutral things like maybe taking a ride on Appa tomorrow, maybe sending a letter to Zuko asking if his old house could be cleaned for his return for his arrival at the peace festival.

Yet Aang’s thoughts returned back to the date. But instead of with Meilin, it was with Katara. He daydreamed of taking her somewhere they could dance. The pair loved dancing together. Aang would wear his Monk robes, but slightly more formal, and Katara would wear a loose dress and her hair down so it could move with the music. He fell asleep thinking of this magical date. 

Aang continued thinking of this date while dreaming. He dreamt of twirling her around and the feeling her hands in his and her smile directed towards him. His mind played scenes of them whispering in each other’s ears as they swayed during a slow dance, of their breathlessness when they had to do a type of fast fire nation dance, and the blush that would creep onto both of their cheeks when they had to do the earth kingdom dance in which had you stare into your partner's eyes for the whole dance. They would laugh and dance and laugh and dance until they would both drop. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter was from katara’s side so i thought this chapter should be from aang’s clueless side. i hope you enjoyed and i hope you didn’t find my descriptions too repetitive.


	8. Faking the Jump

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didnt even know that i chose kang as a name which sounds like Aang dear god im so dumb. Anyways im sorry its late and its super long and boring! As always im sorry and enjoy!

Katara didn’t want to go have tea. She wanted to go scream.

Her encounter with Aang two nights ago left her feeling mad.

She knew why she was mad, yet she refused to accept the truth. She kept making up lies in her head about why she was upset with him.

_ I’m mad because he was so rude that night when he left. I’m mad because he’s not leaving me alone. I’m mad because he’s easy to talk to. No, no, no, I’m mad because he was rude. _

Katara tried to put these thoughts away as Meilin walked into their usual booth in the Jasmine Dragon. 

“Oh, Katara, I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting. It took a little longer training the new waterbender than I thought.”

Meilin smiled brightly at Katara as she sat down in the booth. Kang, ever the gracious worker, immediately came by and got Meilin’s order while refilling Katara’s drink. He even had time to give Katara a wink after she thanked him.

“Just ask him out already.”

“What?!?” Katara was so surprised at Meilin’s words that she spit out some of her drink. Sure, she flirted with Kang from time to time, but it was harmless flirting. It wasn’t even as bad flirting as she did with Aang.

  
  


Meilin gave her friend a fake punch and further pushed her idea, “Have you seen you two? Always blushing and smiling and thanking one another. I don’t know why neither of you have asked the other out on a date.” Meilin gave her friend a pointed look.

“I don’t know, I-” Katara tried to justify her actions yet couldn’t come up with anything. 

_ Why don’t I go out with Kang? _

Meilin could see her friend fail to answer and took her silence as an opening. “You guys would be so cute together! And wouldn't it be nice to get all dressed up and have a cute guy admire you?”

“I guess so. You know what? You’re right, it  _ would  _ be nice.”

If Aang was going to move on, so would Katara. 

Katara and Aang chatted for a few more minutes until Kang came to refill their drinks and Katara pushed her nerves down.

“Kang,” She said, “Would you like to go on a date with me tonight?”

Of all the things to happen in that moment, she didn’t expect Kang to drop the tea pot he was holding. The china fell to the ground and made an ear splitting noise while flying into a hundred tiny shards.

“Oh shit, I'm so sorry,” Kang said while running to get a broom to pick up the broken china. 

Everyone was looking as to where that sound had come from and both Meilin and Katara were turning red at the unwanted attention they were getting. Neither of the pair knew if they should ask to help or just sit there. 

Kang started to push the glass into a wooden bin and kept apologizing to them.

“Don’t worry about it,” Katara said after the 10th apology that fell from Kang’s mouth. 

The awkwardness finally ended when Kang had put the final shard of porcelain in the bin and gave Katara a bright smile. “I would be honored to go on a date with you tonight. I tried to say that earlier, but I was so shocked that thee Katara would ask me on a date. Anyway, I know this great place, it’s kinda hidden so it’ll be fun to go.”

“That sounds lovely,” Katara replied while smiling at him. 

When Kang was out of earshot Meilin squealed and started to bounce in her seat.

“Oh, this is amazing! He said yes and he’s taking you to a secretive date. You’re gonna have a wonderful time.” 

Katara smiled at her friend. And she couldn’t help to admit to herself that she did feel good. She was moving on and she felt  _ good _ about moving on.

Katara started to imagine what the date would be like, having a nice dinner or dancing. She was excited to try something new. 

“Hey Katara,” Meilin started. “You’re, like, one of my only friends in the city, and I hate to do this but could I maybe talk to you about my date with Aang? If you feel awkward, I totally understand, but I could just really use a friend right now.”

Meilin was twisting a piece of her hair around her finger. Her eyes happen to look at anything that wasn’t the girl across from her. 

Katara considered what Meilin had asked

_ Well, I am moving on. What's the harm in a little push? _

“Okay, I mean, I'm over Aang, and as you just heard, and everyone did, haha, I'm going on a date with Kang, so I don’t mind.” Katara gave Meilin an answer.

“Thank you! I’m sorry I just thought since the two of you were having healing sessions that some old feelings might have been stirred up again.”

Katara froze a little at the words. Trying to cover her pause, she spoke her next words a little fast, “Nope.”

She lied.

“Well, to start off, he took me to this great restaurant, which had sea prunes! And it was so romantic! He kept complimenting my green dress, saying how well it complemented my hair. I mean, who knew he had a way with words?” Meilin's voice was growing higher as she continued and a faint blush crept up her cheeks at the remembrance of the night. 

Meanwhile, Katara was shrinking. She tried to be civil. Her head was held high and her shoulders back, the perfect image of indifference. Yet her mind ran with the memory of Aang taking her to that exact same restaurant. He was so happy that he could find her a meal that would remind her of home.

“So,” Meilin continued while having her tea, “We ate and he made a cute little face when he had a sea prune. His face scrunched up a little and I said that he didn't have to eat it, yet he insisted he did. I tried asking him why, but he just shoved another in his mouth!”

Sea prunes. Katara remembered the stupid deal she had made with him. He promised that if there were ever sea prunes being served he would have one to be reminded of her. She knew he hated them but at the time she’d found it cute and kissed him when he had expressed his idea. Now she wished she had never made those memories with him.

“And then afterwards, it was still early and he didn’t know what else to do, so I suggested that we go dancing, and before we had even found a place there was a group of musicians in the street playing music, so he just grabbed my hands and started to swing me around. I mean, I laughed so much. It was a fast beat and I was tripping a little but he always managed to catch me.” Meilin sighed and looked into her tea as if it showed her the memory. 

Before Katara could comment a simple, “that’s great,” Meilin beat her to it. 

“After dancing we just went home, and I kissed him! He was a little hesitant at first but then he leaned into it and it was so magical.” 

Meilin finished her story and looked at her friend expectantly. 

“That’s great,” Katara replied. She tried to put happiness in her voice, but it came across a little awkwardly. 

“I’m happy for you!” Katara tried again to be supportive for her. At least this time her words sounded more sincere.

She grabbed her friend’s hand for good measure, trying to convince her that she truly cared. Meilin gripped her hands back and smiled at her. 

“Thank you for caring and for not being too weirded out.” Meilin smiled at her friend, a true and uninhibited smile.

Despite her awkwardness, Katara returned the smile. 

They both sat that way for a while until their conversation moved onto easy topics. They discussed the new benders they were training to take their place and where they would go after the clinic was finally set up, the latter of which Katara had no idea.

It wasn’t until it was half past three that Katara had noticed how much time had passed.

“Oh, shoot, I gotta get back to the clinic for the afternoon shift. I’ll see you later, right?” Katara put some money down on the table only thing keeping her from bolting out the doors was her waiting for Meilin to answer,

“For sure!” Once the reply came, Katara was out the door and into the streets.

A weight was lifted from her shoulders the second she stepped out of those doors. She didn’t realize it before, but she wanted to cry. She wanted to cry after hearing about Meilin’s date with Aang and how perfect and happy and magical it had been. 

_ And he even kissed her! _

Warm droplets fell down Katara’s face; she turned into a dark alley and put a hand over her mouth to cover her sobs.

_ Why am I crying? Why am I so upset? Why am I acting like a jealous girlfriend?  _

Katara didn’t care about being late to work anymore. Her heart hurt. It felt like someone decided to crush it in their hand. 

She didn’t want to admit the true reason she was crying. The same little secret she had kept hidden for three long, lonely, years. 

But she had a reason for those lonely years, she reminded herself. Those three years were because Aang lied and kept secrets and she deserved better.

It took her three minutes but she finally calmed down and hoped her face wasn’t puffy. She was late for work, and she usually was never late. 

As Katara walked her way down to her clinic she tried to get excited for her date with Kang and the new future ahead of her. 

…

Katara sat on her couch, constantly trying to peek out her window while remaining calm. 

Kang was late, not too late but becoming a little late.

Worried she would wrinkle her dress if she kept sitting, Katara stood up and walked around her apartment, trying to pass the time.

When she had moved back into this house a few months ago, it had been filled with stuff she and Aang had bought, though she didn’t change it. Maybe one day when she felt confident enough she would, but for now she had kept it the same.

They had a map they were given by some world leader years ago up on the wall, a horrible drawing that Sokka had drawn of himself and Katara that she had kept. Even the pictures that Sokka had drawn of Appa all those years ago were up on the wall. Thec ouch was one Aang had picked out.

Hell, there were even still some of Aang’s old clothes hidden away in his drawers. Sometimes when Katara felt sentimental she looked at them. On the anniversary of their kiss at the Jasmine Dragon, she had even worn one of his robes to sleep. From time to time she would wear them. 

It hurt and also felt comforting to wear them. Yet Katara couldn’t help herself once her mind got the idea of wearing it to sleep some nights. Once she was down with using the robes she would wash them and put them back in the exact way he left them.

Katara continued to pace her tiny house until a knock came. 

When Katara opened the door, she noticed that Kang looked a little winded.

“Are you okay?” Katara asked. She moved to grab his hand to feel his pulse and put the back of her hand to his head.

Kang moved so that her hand fell away from his head, but grabbed her hand and moved it to meet hers in a pancake type hold.

“Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Some couple just stayed so long at the cafe and you know Iroh’s rule, ‘we don't close till the last customer leaves’ so I had to stay and then I had to run home and get changed, and then I had to run here. I'm sorry I'm late, have I apologized for that yet?”

Katara laughed. “No you haven’t. And don’t worry, it’s fine.” Katara started to follow along and Kang and leaned into him. 

They both walked in comfortable silence for fifteen minutes before Katara started to wonder where they were going and why it was taking so long. 

“So how long is it going to take to get to this mysterious place?” She joked, and even punched his arm a little.

He smiled back at her. “It wouldn’t be a secret spot if it didn’t take a long time to get to.” 

Katara laughed again and just nodded her head. She decided maybe she should try to strike up a convo.

“So how long have you lived in Ba Sing Se?” 

“Oh, since I was born.”

Katara waited for him to elaborate on it. But he didn’t. 

_ Maybe he just doesn't want to talk about his childhood? _

“So,” Katara started, “When did you start working with Iroh?”

“A year ago,” He replied.

“Why did you decide to work for the Jasmine Dragon?”

“I liked having tea there, so I thought, why not work there?” Kang laughed loudly at his own joke.

Katara tried to get in a chuckle, though it was barely heard over his own laughter.

_ Well, at least I got a few more words out of him than before. _

She tried to rack her brain of other things to talk about or mention, but for some reason her brain was becoming blank. 

“We’re here!” Kang excitedly said as he pointed to a small restaurant that seemed to be hidden in a side street.

As he led her into the restaurant, he asked her, “Have you ever been here before?”

The true answer was yes. Aang had brought her here years ago when they had run out of new places to eat food near their house. But she couldn't tell him that.

“No! I’m excited to see the food they have here.” Only after she said it did she realize that the staff might recognize her. She lightly crossed her fingers behind her back as they walked in. Until she realized that was the inside joke she used to do with Aang and she dropped her hand into a relaxed position. 

They sat down at a table in the center of the restaurant. The place was small, but it was still packed with people and tables. You could barely see the floor, too many heads and tables were blocking the view.

The pair ordered food and drinks and again turned to silence. 

So again, Katara tried to revive the conversation. “What’s your favourite thing to do in the city?”

“I like to go to work.” He replied.

“Other than work what do you like to do?”

“Go out on dates with beautiful girls.”

The joke was meant to bring a laugh out of Katara but all it did was make her think Kang’s personality was a little lacking.

She tried to smile anyways.

“What are your plans for the future? Any dreams you want to achieve?”

“I want to serve good coffee to good people.”

This made Katara laugh, and he wasn’t even trying to joke. “You remind me of Iroh.”

Kang smiled at her and took her hand to start playing with it. 

“Yeah I think I’ve learned a lot from him. His words are so wise”

“Tell me about it. I feel like he read some enlightenment book and now knows the meaning of life.”

“Oh i know the meaning of life, but Iroh didn’t teach it to me.”

“And what is this meaning of life?”

“To go on dates with beautiful women!”

Kang once again started to laugh at his joke, that he had made for the second time tonight, while Katara tried to force a laugh and a smile onto her face. 

_ Who makes the same joke twice in one evening? _

_ I shouldn’t judge him, maybe he's nervous. Skies, now I am. _

Their food came and they ate together, making comments about the food here and there. Katara was practically counting down the minutes before it was midnight and she could claim she had to get home for her early shift tomorrow. 

When they were both finished with their food, Katara was finally able to use her excuse and started to put money on the table.

“Let me pay,” Kang said, pushing Katara’s money back into her bag. “And let me walk you home, it’s the least I can do.”

Katara nodded her head and started to move straight toward the door. She couldn’t take anymore conversations that were filled with dry responses or horrible jokes made over and over again. 

While they walked, Kang again took her hand, but this time she didn’t squeeze his hand back or lean into him. 

By how fast Katara was walking, she expected to be at her house in ten minutes. She didn’t expect anything to stop her from getting home, her mind focused on ending this awkward date.

Until she saw Aang.

He was gliding in the air. She could barely make out his figure. The only reason she knew it was Aang was because no one other than an airbender could fly around in the air like him. 

Katara knew that Aang gliding at night meant he was stressed.

“Is that the Avatar?” Kang asked.

“I wonder what he’s worried about.” The words slipped out of her mouth. Her neck was still crained towards the sky to keep track of Aang’s movements.

“Probably Avatar stuff,” Kang replied, and started to pull Katara forward. 

It wasn’t until Aang was out of view that Katara looked away from the sky and forward at her date who was pulling her home. 

When they finally did reach her home Katara didn’t know what to say. She didn't want to suggest doing it another time. But she also didn’t want to flat out say that she had a bad time.

Katara opened her mouth to say a simple, “This was fun, thank you! Goodnight!” When Kang kissed her.

It was awkward at first because her mouth was open but they soon got the hang of it. 

Katara didn’t know what she was doing. A second ago she didn’t want to encourage another date, yet here she was kissing him. It reminded her of how Meilin said she kissed Aang. 

The thought made her want to scream, so instead she kissed Kang even harder, trying to imagine that she was having a better time than Aang had kissing Meilin.

When they finally pulled away, Katara said what she had thought before and he had replied in a similar fashion.

Katara closed the door to her house and immediately took off her shoes, which were hurting her feet. Soon, her hair came undone from the fancy braid she had done and her dress was hung up nicely. 

Maybe it was because her mind was still on Aang, as it usually was these days, that Katara put on one of Aang’s robes and crawled into bed.

She tried to ignore the nagging feeling in her mind to search for Aang and to make sure he was okay.

_ One minute I’m mad at him kissing Meilin and the next I want to help him. God, I’m a mess. _

Katara fell asleep looking out the window in her room wondering about Aang, angry at Aang, and feeling like she was a mess. 

Which she was. She was a mess in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ngl i wasn't going to update this fic, i lost a ton of motivation but then i saw one more person bookmarked it so i felt bad. Thank u to that person! (also next chapter is super exciting)


	9. Liar, Liar, Heart on Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey some personal stuff is happening in my life and updates probably wont be twice a week im sorry. I promise ill get out a chapter a week though. (btw this chapter is mostly dialogue im sorry) As always im sorry and enjoy!

Katara was stubborn. 

After her whole date with Kang, she didn’t want to see Aang. She had decided that the reason why her date went wrong with Kang was because of Aang. 

Katara had made plans with Kang for a second date and there was no way she was going to think of Aang. She wasn’t going to let past memories ruin the new ones she was making. 

  
  


Consequently, because of Katara's rule about leaving Aang in the past, she had been avoiding meetings with Aang for two weeks. She was delaying the inevitable, she knew that. But to Katara, she needed to step forward as she had once done three years ago and never look back. 

She had put together a plan to heal his bones all in one day, even if it took all of her energy. She was waiting until it was the full moon to have her greatest strength to heal him.

The plan was: Avoid Aang until the full moon, heal him, then finish teaching the new water benders, then go to the festival in the fire nation. 

Katara’s plans were immediately derailed when Aang walked in at the end of her shift one night. 

He had limped over to her and lightly tapped her shoulder which made her jump. 

“I'm sorry to interrupt,” Aang said, “But I just need one healing session, my back and my legs are just….”

At first, Katara was going to suggest that he have a seat or that another bender take care of him, but she found her clinic was filled with patients and healers already at work. “Let's go to my house, I'm getting off my shift anyway.”

Aang didn’t need any convincing as Katara led him out of the clinic onto the street.

Neither of the pair said anything, Aang was in too much pain, while Katara was too into her thoughts.

_ Why the hell is he here why couldn’t he have waited just two more weeks? I'm sure He and Meilin could have had 100 more dates by then! _

At some point, Aang started to slow down even more and Katara was forced to put one of his arms over her shoulder and she helped carry his weight to her house. Again, they said nothing, letting actions speak for themselves. Katara would constantly put her hand on his wrist to check his pulse. Aang would give her thankful looks in between his faces of pain.

When they finally reached her house he immediately dropped down on the couch, panting for breath. 

Katara got a bucket of water she always kept around at home and brought it next to him. 

“What’s hurting you?” She asked.

“My back and my head and my left leg hurts a little but not as bad as the others.” Aang kept his eyes closed throughout his words. 

The healer started on his leg at first, not stopping until every tiny crack was healed. She gently told Aang to remove his top robes so that she could reach his back and for him to turn over. 

Her breath hitched as she felt his back. His spine was fractured in several places. She couldn't help but wonder how he had even stood up at all. She started to immediately work on the places that were the worst. Her mind went into that blank state as she focused. 

“How was your date?”

“What?” Katara asked, taken by surprise.

“Meilin told me you went on a date with Kang, how did it go?”

“Oh, it was fun!” Katara tried to lie her ass off.

“Oh yeah?” Aang’s voice sounded disinterested yet she could sense something was there. 

She decided she would make him a little jealous. She had moved on, why couldn’t she discuss her date?

“He brought me to this great restaurant which had the best fire noodles and turtle duck. And we just talked about our lives. It was so romantic.” Katara attempted to put a dreamy tone into her voice.

“That sounds nice. I don’t know if you heard, but Meilin and I had a great date too.”

“I did.” Her voice started to get an edge.

“Yeah, we ate dinner and danced in the streets.” His voice was strained. Katara didn’t know if it was from the pain or from the memory.

“That’s nice.”

“Someone actually told me that if I had a free song she’d love to dance with me. It reminded me of that time someone asked Toph if she had a free song he should dance with her.”’

Katara laughed and continued the story for him, “And she earthbended him 30 feet away from him I remember.”

“Skies, I miss Toph. She used to call us out on all of our bullshit.”

“Remember the time I didn’t know what restaurant to eat at and she pointed in a direction and said we’re going to the nearest restaurant in that direction?”

“And then she started sprinting off without us!”

The pair laughed at the memory, their shared history making them go from stiff to relaxed around each other in seconds. 

Katara couldn’t help but continue the conversation, “Have you tried the new food place near the king’s palace?”

“No, but I heard their fire noodles are even hotter than the ones in the fire nation”

They both laughed and continued talking about anything that came to mind. Friends, Foods, Working, and even the Future. What they didn’t discuss was their love life. No one went near that topic. 

Katara’s brain seemed to be out for her because she started to think about Aang in a way she didn’t want to.

_ This is what I was missing with Kang, this spark and flow of words. Not the same joke made twice in a matter of minutes. _

She shook her head as if trying to physically remove the thoughts from her head and tried to replace them with new ones.

_ The only reason why it was awkward with Kang was that I kept thinking of Aang. This isn’t on Kang, it’s on me. _

Yet her thoughts couldn’t help but wander back to the idea that she would have had a better time with Aang. 

When Katara felt satisfied with her work on his back she told him to move forward so she could work on his head. 

He turned around and his grey eyes immediately found hers. 

Katara sat down next to him and they both turned their bodies to one another. She gathered up freshwater in her hands and worked on his head. 

Neither of them broke contact.

Aang was secretly thanking the skies he had a reason to be able to stare into her mesmerizing eyes.

Katara felt around his head numbly, her focus was on other things. His eyes, his nose, his lips…

Slowly, without noticing it, Katara’s head came closer to his, while Aang’s did the same. 

Suddenly Katara couldn’t take it any longer. 

She leaned forward and kissed him.

He kissed her back.

Katara dropped her water, getting both of them wet. Though neither of the two noticed it.

Katara’s hands were on the sides of his face and his hands were wrapped around her back as if to push her closer to him.

They both lost track of time. All that mattered was what was happening between them. 

When they both started to stand up to move things to another place they knocked over the bucket. 

“Oh, I'm so sorry, “Aang immediately started to push the water back into the bucket with his hands.

Katara couldn't help but laugh at how funny he looked. Once her laughter faded she focused and waterbended the water back into the bucket. Aang looked back up at her and rubbed the back of his head, his usual nervous tic.

Neither of them knew what to do. Once they had pulled apart it was if the spell had been broken. 

Aang thought about leaving or excusing himself. Katara wanted to have him back in her arms but she didn’t know what to say. 

“Shirt.” She noticed he wasn’t wearing anything on the top of his body.

“Oh yeah.” Aang started to blush and tried to cross his arms over his chest to cover himself. 

“Your clothes are still here,” She offered, “In my room, the usual place.”

Aang sheepishly nodded his head and headed in the direction of their old bedroom. Katara felt awkward standing there so she followed close behind him. 

When he opened the drawers he noticed something. “There isn't any dust here huh?”

Katara lied, “Oh yeah I just always keep the house cleaned you know.”

He took a robe out and put it on. 

When he was doing this action a pink blush found it’s way onto Katara’s cheeks and she looked away.

While she was looking away Aang took the chance to glance at her. 

They both stared at each other for a second, trying to mentally will the other to make a move. 

Finally, Aang said, “I should go.” 

The breath Katara had been holding was released and she moved aside so he could get out of the room. 

Her heart dropped seeing him go.

_ For once, why couldn't I just say what I wanted and took it? _

She opened the door for him to go and left it open while he started to walk down the street.

All of a sudden Aang turned, “Thank you for tonight, it was....” he let his words die off. 

“Yeah.” Katara herself didn’t even know what to say. 

Aang stood there for a few breaths before returning on his way home.

Katara closed her door and lightly touched her lips, the memory of their kiss still lingering in her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is all about realizations which should be fun! As always thank you audrey for editing this you truly are amazing.


	10. The Lens clears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! im so sorry its been forever since i updated, a lot of personal stuff happened though i should be able to finish this fic on schedule. this chapter is dedicted to jupiterwave and especially kay, both of your encouraging words mean so much to me and are the reason why i continued writing. You truly give me confidence and make me so happy. and thank you again kay for the full paragraph of support it gave me the strength to finish this chapter. As always im sorry and enjoy!

Aang woke up that morning with a pit in his stomach.

When Meilin asked him why he looked so uneasy, he lied and he said he was just hungry.

Meilin, the talker, started to talk the second he had replied to her. “Today is one of my last days at the clinic! I mean, Katara and I have basically trained the new water benders to work as quickly and efficiently as us.”

At the mention of her name, Aang’s heart twisted. He felt horrible for kissing her last night, she was with Kang. And he was with Meilin….

“--Does that sound good?”

“Huh?” And asked confused as he was shaken out of his thoughts.

Meilin moved her hands in front of his face, “Hello! Earth to Aang.”

Aang grabbed one of her hands and squeezed it before moving it away, “I'm sorry I've been in my head this morning.”

Meilin waved her hand and sat next to him.

“It’s fine, I was just saying after I work at the clinic today we should have a discussion on how we should move forward. As a couple.”

“That sounds good.”

“Okay, well, I have to run, I’ll see you later.” She kissed his cheek on her way out. 

Aang continued to eat his breakfast while thinking of ways he could tell Meilin he was still in love with Katara.

…

Aang knew he was doing a dumb thing, yet he continued to walk to the clinic. He was going to tell Meilin early that he couldn’t be with her. His guilt weighed him down too much over the kiss and he didn't want Meilin to spend another moment thinking he was this faithful happy boyfriend. 

Aang walked into the clinic, only Meilin, the two new benders, and Katara were there.

His eyes couldn’t help but jump to where katara was first. It was a habit he was never able to shake in those three years.

When his eyes finally did find Meilin’s they were filled with curiosity. He thought she must be wondering why he decided to come to the clinic without notice.

Though to be fair Aang didn’t think anyone else would be here.

“Meilin, could we talk in the back for a second?” Aang lightly stepped forward, worried any sudden movements might scare her. He felt three pairs of eyes bore into him.

She nodded her head and headed into the back room. He closed the door and lead her to sit down on the couch.

“Meilin I have to be honest with you I’m so sorry but-”

“You're in love with Katara.” She finished for him.

Aang lost his composure and let out his breath. His eyes held such sadness in them.

“I’m so sorry Meilin, I never intended to lead you on or hurt you. Skies, I’m so so so sorry.” 

Meilin lightly put her fingers on his cheek, “It’s okay. I went into this knowing that you have a complicated romantic history and that you’re the avatar. I should have known that you would always be in love with her.”

Tears fell down Aang’s cheeks and onto Meilin’s hand as the truth was handed to him.

He did love Katara, he’d loved her for those six years they were together and the three they were not. He could never feel the same way about a person as the love he felt for her.

Unfortunately, she moved on from him. He was no longer his to love. 

“Thank you for being so kind you know you didn’t have to be. If you yelled at me I wouldn’t blame you.” 

When Aang looked up he found Meilin was also crying.

“I’m just too good of a person for that.”

They both laughed and used their hands to dry their faces. The silence was sad, filled with their broken hearts.

“Tell her how you feel,” Meilin suggested as she waved her hands to try to dry her tears.

“I can't,” He replied, “She doesn’t feel the same way.”

Meilin gave him a sad smile, “You never truly know how another feels until you ask them.”

Aang nodded his head and took deep breaths. He didn’t know why this was so hard for him.

“Have a good life, Aang,” Meilin said, “and just live deliberately.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek right as the door to the room opened.

When Aang turned around he didn’t even see who opened the door, it was already closed.

“Who…” Aang curiously.

Meilin shrugged, “Probably one of the new benders looking to check in on us.”

They both stared at each other. Neither of the pair knew what to say or do. 

All of a sudden, Aang stood up and headed for the door. “Goodbye, Meilin.” 

Meilin waved. “Goodbye, Aang.”

The pair’s story closed with each other as Aang walked out of the clinic for the last time.

…

Katara knew she was being dumb. Why would she have a reason to set up another date with Kang when the first one went so horribly?

Yet here she was, in the jasmine dragon, waiting for him to come out so she could ask him out again. 

To be honest with herself, Katara was mostly doing this because she saw Meilin kiss Aang. A small part of her thought that after her and Aang kissed something could happen between them. Maybe he would tell her he still loved her or she could get the nerve to do the same. 

Yet she knew he chose Meilin when she interrupted their kiss.

Katara started to tap the table nervously when it had become a five-minute wait and started pulling her hair when it was ten. 

After fifteen minutes of waiting, the longest time she had waited without being served at the jasmine dragon, Kang finally came over to her table.

He walked slowly as if each step was causing him pain. At first, Katara thought that he might be hurt.

She immediately stood up to go to him, “Are you okay, you seem to hurt?”

“No,” he replied, “Uh… not hurt.”

“Oh? Anyways… um… I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go on another date tonight?” At the horror on his face she added, “Or any day you’re free!”

Kang took a few steps back, “Listen Katara, you’re a nice girl, but, the date was just awful. You didn’t like my jokes and truthfully I didn’t find you that fascinating. I was hoping our kiss last night would ignite some sparks. But all it did was make my mouth dry. “

Katara’s mouth fell open into an O shape. _Did he just say I made him dry?_

Katara opened and closed her mouth, trying to form a sentence. All that came out were whispers of sentence starters. 

“Anyways you’re totally in love with the Avatar. I mean you were looking at him in the sky and you wouldn’t stop looking.”

The only words that came out of her mouth in a reply were, “Okay.”

Kang nodded and left, while Katara was left standing shocked and confused. 

After five minutes of dumbly staring at the ground, Katara left. Her head spinning with thoughts. _How could he think I was boring? He was the one who ran out of jokes within the first five minutes. And I made his mouth dry? I’m a water bender for skies’ sakes. I should go back there and give him a piece of my mind._

Katara turned around and started to make the hike back up to where the jasmine dragon was when she heard a voice.

“Katara?” The voice came from Aang. He was walking the opposite way from her across the street. A few people passing by clouded her vision of him for a few seconds. 

“Aang?” She said.

The avatar crossed the street and made his way over to her, a small smile playing on his lips. 

“I was hoping that was you. I wanted to ask: the peace festival is coming up and I was wondering if we could do one last healing session before I go? And I assume you’re going too so you might want to get these sessions over with.”

Katara really didn’t feel like spending any more time with Aang, but she did make a promise to him to heal him fully.

“Fine.” She said.

He gave a yelp of happiness and started to thank her when he realized she looked upset. 

“Are you okay?”

“It’s fine just some asshole said I made him dry or something.”

“What? Where is he? I’ll talk some sense into him.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I just need to move on.”

Aang grabbed one of her hands and they both stared at each other, “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

He nodded and let their hands fall. 

“Do you want to go to the clinic?”

“Can we just go to my house?”

He smiled, “Sure.”

They walked in silence on the way home. Neither looking at the other except quick glances to make sure they were still there. 

At one point a cart came flying down the street and Aang moved to pull her out of the way. He brought her close to her chest and moved back in a matter of seconds.

“Woah, are you okay?” He asked her.

“Yeah, just caught off guard.” She couldn’t help herself but relax into his touch and let herself be hugged. 

Though when the moment finally passed she pushed herself off him and they continued on their way. 

When they finally reached the house Katara went in first and gestured for him to sit on the couch. Her cheeks turned a light pink at the reminder of what had happened there only a few days ago.

Neither of them said anything while Katara worked. Their silence was heavy, filled with questions that neither of them had the heart to ask.

Aang wanted to know if he’d ever see her twilight blue eyes after today.

Katara wanted to know if he truly loved her the same way she loved him.

Both of them felt as if the answer to the question was no.

At one point Aang cleared his throat. “Um, I know we usually have the peace festival dinner that we have to see each other for. Though I’ll make sure that any other time during the festival I'll be nowhere near you. I hope that um, gives you some peace of mind.”

If it weren’t for Katara healing his right hand he might have rubbed the back of his neck.

When Aang tried to look at her face, he tried to find any sign that she didn’t want to avoid him. That maybe, just maybe, she wanted to be close with him again. But to Aang's disappointment, her face was a mask of civility. He looked away and tried to force his eyes to stop watering. She couldn’t know how much she hurt him, how much influence she had on him. When one tear almost escaped his eye he moved his head, hoping to cover it in case it dropped.

Katara’s mind was swirling. She wanted to say that she wanted him around. That she didn’t care if they were at stupid parties together or that if they were near each other. A part of her was tired of trying to pretend. She had been pretending she hated him. That she didn’t miss him. And that she hadn’t forgiven him a long time ago.

She didn’t care about those stupid months and days that he left her and lied about where he was. They were in the past and he had apologized for what he had done. But her pride kept her from saying anything. She slowed down her healing, for her mind was too focused on keeping neutral feelings than the healing in front of her. 

Eventually, when the sun has sunk below the horizon and the light of the stars visible for everyone to see, did Katara finish healing him. 

She would have finished in an hour if her mind wasn’t on the dagger she felt in her heart.

And when she was done she barely had the strength to whisper to him, “You should be fine, no more healing sessions, no more visits, we’re done.”

Katara was looking at the bucket of water as she said it, she knew if she looked at him she would have said completely different words. 

Suddenly soft hands were under her chin, guiding her face and eyes to catch silver ones.

“Never hold back.” He whispered to her. She could feel the breath from his mouth as he exhaled. When she looked in his eyes she saw the pain in them, pain that she was causing.

Katara opened her mouth to say something, anything when he strode out of the house. And lightly closed the door. 

The sound of the door clicking shut made the tears fall, and the quiet footsteps dying brought on the sobs. 

…

Last night Katara went to bed with a heavy heart and woke up with one. She finally realized that being around Aang was like breathing. He made her smile and laugh and made her feel calm. Thing’s she hadn’t felt in a long time.

If she hadn’t cried her heart out last night she might have had room for more tears.

She numbly got dressed and made herself breakfast, her mind stuck on Aang’s face and those last words he had said. 

_Never hold back._

Was she doing that now? Holding back, not letting herself be with him?

Her brain told her to leave it be. That she was saving herself from a world of hurt that would come. 

Yet her heart screamed for the boy who had made her smile and helped her feel strong. 

After eating Katara sat on the couch where so many words had been exchanged, and a small kiss had happened. 

For some unknown reason, she looked to her left, where years ago he had claimed as his usual spot and expected to see him. Even just the memory of him she hoped to appear. Yet she found an empty couch and tears once again streaming down her face. 

She knew she could live without Aang, she had done it for three years. Yet she didn’t want to. She wanted to go on fun dates with him, travel the world with him, and just laugh with him. 

It was on that old, ugly couch of theirs that Katara decided she would tell him. At the peace festival, she was going to tell Aang that she loved him. No, that she was _in_ love with him. 

Katara started to pack her clothes, her mind finally clear for once. She knew what she wanted and she wasn’t going to let pride or her head get in her way.

As she set foot on the boat for the fire nation, her heart finally eased. Katara was going to find Aang and she was going to go after the happiness she deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw i have plans to either wrie a atla (kataang in it) crack fic or a kataang modern au though im still outlining so idk how soon after i finish this fic the stories will come out. Also when i get tired of writing hets im hoping to write about hosie! yet i have no clue what plot their story would be so thatll have to wait. Before i go can we agree that not a ton of good new adult fantasy books have come out after 2018? like where are the good books im bored reading the same enemies to lovers stories in different magic worlds. sorry im rambling see you next chapter.


	11. A Story Within a Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! its been a month since i’ve uploaded and to be honest i’ve had this in my google docs for three weeks and never posted it bc both my friends tried editing it then got bored and gave up. so the choice was to have a good story but takes months to come out or come out now and be shit. i chose for u so this chapter isn’t the best, it was written, edited, and uploaded on my phone so if there’s lowercase stuff and grammatical errors (i almost didn’t correct my error of bitch walls) i’m sorry. also ik this is already so long but the last part of this fic is so horrible fuck breakups. As always, i’m sorry and enjoy!

It was their first trip with just the two of them. For the past four years Aang and Katara always had someone else with them.

First it was Sokka, him refusing to leave them alone together. 

Toph would come from time to time, yet when she opened up her metal bending school the trips became rare.

Zuko, as Fire Lord, had no time and instead would schedule time for the team to join him in the Fire Nation a few times a year. 

When Sokka wasn’t there he ended up getting Suki to join them, though Sokka soon realized she could have been with him.

“What do you think is going to happen in the Northern Water Tribe?” Katara asked as she leaned against her boyfriend on Appa. She couldn’t help but rub her hands through the soft bisons fur when she got nervous.

Aang shrugged his shoulders, “Well now since there’s a power vacuum after Arnook died I guess it’ll be chaos.”

Katara sighed, her mind was on Sokka, he was supposed to go on this trip with him but the Southern Water Tribe had their own problems now that Arnook was gone.

Even though she was glad to finally be alone with Aang she wished her brother was here to pay respects.

As if Aang could sense her thoughts, he softly held her and and started to rub the back of her palm, “I wish he could have been here too.”

Katara let a tear escape her face and leaned her head against his shoulder. They had only spent a few months with Yue but she had been so kind to Katara. Teaching her about water bending and their heritage. With her father gone it felt like a piece of the memory of Yue was too

.

It took them a few hours but when they finally managed to get to the Northern Water Tribe, it wasn’t like what they had expected. 

It was quiet.

No store was open, no people out in the city, not even a peep.

Aang gave Appa a big hug before he and Katara, hand in hand, went to the bureau. 

They knocked twice on the door to no answer. They both gave each other quizzical looks and tried to knock on other doors. 

It took ten doors until someone finally opened up. 

An older man, probably in his late fifties slightly opened the door.

“What do you want? don’t you know about the mandate?” his voice was harsh as the cold air. 

Katara stepped in front of Aang and tried to give the man the kindest, fakest, smile she could muster up. “I am here with the Avatar to help the transition of choosing a new chief. What’s this mandate you’re talking about?”

Aang and Katara tried not flinch as the old man leaned further out the door. He was so old he had no hair and his skin was weathered with scars. His grey eyes pierced into the two making them question whether the Northern Water Tribe was in greater danger than they thought. 

“Usually a leader is chosen through bloodline, or conquering the old Chief. This isn’t the south,” the man explicitly looked at Katara, “since a Chief dying without choosing a replacement hasn’t happened in such a long time we have to use a old rule, no one is allowed outside except for those vying to be new chief. everyone ran to the market the day the Chief died. They better chose a new one soon or else I’m gonna run out of food.” 

“But that mandate makes no sense,” Katara was confused why the north, which to be honest was a little behind on the times, would not make a new rule for a new era.

“who cares it’s all we have.” The man started to close the door on them, yet Aang’s hand was faster. 

“you wouldn’t happen to know where these new chief candidates are?” he asked.

“They’re probably at the old chief’s house fighting over who should take over.” with that the man firmly ended the conversation and closed the door. 

Aang ans Katara looked at each other in silent communication. They knew where they had to go next. 

Aang held up his hand, palm facing up waiting for Katara to either take it or wave it off. She instead threaded her arm through his and then took his hand.

“body warmth.” was all she said. 

Even though the pair had been dating for years Katara never failed to make Aang smile. 

…

The old Chiefs house was gigantic. It put all of the other huts to shame. 

Aang knocked on the door first, praying that someone would open so he could get inside somewhere warm. His prayers were answered when a harried man opened the door. 

His brown his was stuck to his face and his brown skin slightly shining with a layer of sweat. 

Aang didn’t even have to introduce himself the man knew who he was, “Ahh the avatar. I was waiting for your arrival, what took you so long?” 

The man pulled both of them into the hot house which had a roaring fire going.

“And who are you exactly?” Katara crosses her arms and firmly planted her feet on the ground. 

He smiled at them, “I’m Dyani, and chief arnook appointed me to take over but i have absolutely no idea how to do it. I mean i know what to do but at the same time how do i do it? Do i just go outside and yell i’m the new chief? do i go house to house? Ugh if only he had appointed me before he died i wouldn’t have to mess.” 

The man, Dyani, was rambling and pacing the floor, his current physical state started to make sense to Aang. 

“Well, you could have a public meeting in the heart of the city and have people knock on doors to tell them.” 

Dyani suddenly stopped pacing and looked at Aang. “Yes, that’s perfect! But who’s gonna knock on doors and i need to write my speech and when should i have it.” 

Katara abandoned her fighting stance and more into a open, reassuring one. “Take it one thought at a time, When do you want to announce your chief?” 

“As soon as possible, Maybe this afternoon?” 

Dyani moves to the desk in the corner of the room and motioned for the two of them to sit. Aang was so warm that he was able to take off a layer of his robes. 

Katara and Dyani began to talk bath and forth about what to do and water tribe traditions they should keep and old ones they should put to rest. Aang would chime in from time to time and recommend how to approach the people or ways Dyani could make connections with other territories. Dyani wrote it all down on a spare piece of paper on his desk. 

Aang couldn't help but notice the tiny blue stone on the table that looked like it was half carved. His curiosity made his filter come down and he blurted out, “Whats that?” 

Dyani looked up surprised, his face had been in the pages of the notes he was taking, “Oh, I’m creating my engagement necklace for my soon to be fiancé. I wanted to propose to him for months now but the making of the necklace takes long. It’s supposed to be carved of the hardest stone so the amount of work you put into the carving represents the amount of work you’ll put into the marriage.” 

Katara’s hands flew to her mother’s necklace at her throat, “I never knew that.” her voice was soft, lost in thought. 

Dyani smiles at them, “It looks like the avatar here out a lot of work into yours, im sure your relationship will be as strong as that stone.” 

At his comment both of them blushed. Aang’s mouth opened and closed trying to find the words To explain. Meanwhile katara blushed a deep pink and sputtered out the words for the both of them, “No, no, this was my grandmothers necklace and then my mother’s and now mine.” Her hand tightened on the blue stone.

Dyani’s face lost its color, “Oh i’m so sorry i didn’t mean to offend you i just thought you two were a couple and the necklace…” 

“We are a couple,” Aang blurted, “just mot engaged.” he said the last part more lightly. 

Aang and Katara gave each other an awkward, but sweet look. 

Aang wanted to ask where to but the stone, yet not in front of Katara. If the stone was as hard to carve as the man said then he should start carving now, even if katara didn’t want to get engaged yet it just gave him more time to work on it for when she did. 

“Anyways, Katara, you said you’d be willing to knock on doors, since it’s getting late and i want to hold the meeting soon would you be willing to go now?” Dyani’s nose was back on his papers as he started to write his speech. 

Katara nodded even though he couldn’t see her, “I’ll make haste.” 

“And thank you again.” he said quickly before the door closed.

For a second Aang awkwardly sat there wondering why he didn’t go with Katara to knock on doors, two hands would be better than one. It wasn’t until Dyani started speaking again that Aang understood the reason. 

“I saw the way you looked at the stone, you want to make one for your friend. I’m afraid with all this chief commotion the stone store won’t be opened for a bit. If you would like i could give u the extra stones i have left saved for if i failed an attempt.” 

For the second time today words failed Aang, he didn’t know how Dyani could read the emotion on his face earlier, and if he had seen it could katara have too? 

Dyani didn’t want for an answer and pulled open the left side drawer at his desk and handed Aang three smooth blue stones. 

“Thank you.” He said softly running his thumb over the smooth blue stones. “How did you know that i wanted to make a stone for katara? was it written all over my face?” 

A laugh roared from Dyani’s mouth, “Written all over your face it certainly was. When i mentioned the work i put into it your eyes lit up and you even sat up straighter. And by the way your girlfriend was looking at you I think she suspects it too.” 

Aang groaned and put his face in his hands.  _ so much for being subtle  _ he thought. 

Dyani simply laughed at him again started to wave him off, “Now you’ve gotten he stones could you please help knock on doors. I think i’ll be able to handle writing a speech by myself.” 

Smiling at his new friend, Aang got up, put his extra layer of robes back on, and moved onto the cold streets. 

His hands couldn't help but stray the three stones within his pocket. While his mind raced at planning the idea of the stone. 

…

The speech went off without a hitch, Dyani spoke with power in his voice and even proposed to his boyfriend Dakota at the end. 

Even though there were only a few handfuls of people there, word spread fast about the new chiefs speech and declaration of the mandate removed. Soon the streets of the northern water tribe looked the way it did when Aang and Katara first visited all those years ago. 

Aang and Katara decided to stay for the festivities and ceremony of the new chief.

Aang leading up to the ceremony would stay up at night, using the first stone he was gifted to try to carve a necklace for katara. 

By the end of their trip the stone had been badly carved, his mistakes plainly shown. Yet he now had a rough draft of what he would give her.

————————————

Katara truly couldn't have wished for a prettier day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the air was warm but not hot, and it was expected to be a clear nights sky tonight. 

Two pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind as she stared up at the sky. She didn’t need to look to know who those arms belonged to. 

“It’s such a nice day.” She breathes to aang, resting her head against his chest. 

Aang leaned down and kissed the top of his head, “Perfect day for dancing don't you think?” 

She smiled up at him and made a sound of agreement. It was days like these she truly loved living in the earth kingdom in their time off, even if she did miss the cold of the south. 

An idea came to her “ We should go to Rose’s to dance! It’s getting late so once we’re done dancing there we can also eat there. And if your not tired we can dance again if you’d like.We can dance till dawn comes up even.” 

She gave him brilliant smile that made his heart tighten. 

He laughed, “Maybe not till dawn, but yes that sounds good.” His arms tightened around her and he rocked her a little infront if the window in their kitchen.

His words made the beauty of the day start to fade.  _ Right not till dawn, he wants to do his nightly activities of going skies know where  _ she thought.

For the past month since they had come back from the North Pole Aang has been getting up when Katara fell asleep, detangling their arms, and went somewhere that was not the house. 

It had taken katara two weeks until she woke up by his shift in moments one night and saw him leave. She had wanted to ask where he was going but at the time she figured it was probably the bathroom or to get a glass of water. After she noticed it happening for a few nights in a row did Katara finally try to follow him. 

She knew it had to be a secret if he had continuously waited until she fell asleep. 

At first Katara would wait a heartbeat, or until his footsteps indicated he was near the door, before she would throw on clothes and try to follow him. She followed him for only one block before he would turn a corner and simply disappear. This happened every night she followed him. She even tried going in the day to the corner to see where he could have disappeared to yet found only brick walls. 

Katara knew she should just  _ ask  _ Aang where he had been going. Yet she was afraid he would lie. And when he lied Katara knew it would probably be about him meeting another woman. So she didn’t ask, she tried to sleep through his movements and remain ignorant as to what he was doing. 

reluctantly she removed his hands around his arms around her and told him she was going to the bed room to get dressed. Katara loved Aang, trust him so much, yet his nightly activities made her wonder if her trust was a little misplaced recently in him.

….

Aang was a little breathless, after dancing for four hours with Katara and then doing a little dance of their own at home. 

Katara had fallen asleep soon after, tired from all of their activities, and Aang had taken the chance to sneak out. He took the same route every night, uo the street and turned a corner where he opened the hidden cellar door to an abandoned house and went in. 

He knew he really should not be in a abandoned house late at night sneaking away from his girlfriend. But he was worried that if he worked on her necklace at home that she would one day wake and find him carving it and the surprise would be ruined. 

Aang had tried for a few days to find places he could sneak off to so that he could work on the stone, and on the fourth night he had found the abandoned house with a cellar door that was left unlocked. He had never been into the main house, only the cellar. 

It was dusty and had so many cobwebs, there was no light source other than the candle aang brought night after night. His three stones were on the small table that he had brought down there along with a few carving tools. 

It was so, so close to being perfect. He had the air symbol that faded into the waves of the ocean to symbolize both of their cultures. Yet there were a few lines that were too big or a few scratches where there shouldn’t have been. He knew he would have to start his last stone, but he was worried that though he had been working on it for months he wasn’t ready. 

Aang worked for two hours that night trying to save that second stone that would never be enough. He finally decided that after tonight he would start on the third and final stone. He didn’t have time to go to the northern water tribe, he was going to propose on their anniversary of the day Katara was told she’d marry a powerful bender. 

…

Aang’s heavy body lying down on the mattress woke her up. Usually he was more careful, always conscious of how much pressure and how fast would wake her up. 

_ He must be really tired tonight if he just fell down,  _ Katara thought.

She tried to pretend to be asleep, yet when Aang tried to put his arm around her waist she moved to face him. It was dark in the room yet Katara could see his grey eyes widen. 

She lightly touched his face, her hand moving from his cheek down to his chin, “Where did you go?” she breathed. her voice was filled with worry. worry about what he would say, worried that he would lie, worried that he would tell a terrible truth. 

“I was on my glider flying around, just trying to work off some stress.” Aang leaned into her touch. 

Katara didn’t want to say anything, she knew her voice would betray how she felt. She just nodded her head and turned around letting him pull her closer to her and put his arm around her waist to rest. 

Her tears were silent as they fell down onto the pillow. A part of her wanted to scream, to demand the truth, but she was so scared that he would tell her he was cheating. She told herself she could remain ignorant. That it didn’t matter what he was doing because he loved her. 

Katara hated that he was lying to her, and she hated herself even more for still finding his touch comforting. 

When she finally fell asleep that night she dreamed of walking down the streets again and again trying to find Aang. Yet he was never there. 

—————————————-

Just like all those years ago the weather in makapu was beautiful. A few clouds in the sky that either meant happiness or sorrow were drifting in the air. 

Unfortunately the weather was not in accordance with how Katara felt. 

It had been four months and Aang was still going out almost every night, where they went, and wouldn’t return for hours on end. Katara couldn’t take it anymore; her boyfriend felt like a traitor to her. She knew she was going to demand the truth of him today and if he didn’t tell the truth, she was going to leave. She didn’t know  _ where  _ she would go as long as it was away from Aang. 

There was a small bench in the center of the city where she told him to meet her. He probably thought they were going to have a romantic picnic instead of an important conversation. 

“Hi!” Aang appeared around the corner, running to meet her. 

When he sat down, he gave her hand a squeeze, which she quickly tried to take her hand out of. 

He saw the expression on her face. “What’s wrong?” He tried to sit closer to her, but she moved back. 

“We need to talk.” Katara couldn't look at him. She looked at the clouds, trying to find shapes in them. 

Before Aang could even open his mouth, she asked, “Where do you go at night when you leave me?” She finally looked him in the eyes. The gray colors weren’t as bright as they had been a few moments ago. 

Aang opened his mouth multiple times. If it hadn’t been such a serious conversation, Katara would have laughed and said he looked like a fish. 

Finally, after moments of waiting, he lied, “You know I go gliding.” 

“No, I've followed you a few times but I was never able to find out where you go. I know it’s not gliding.” 

Suddenly Aang grabbed her hands and looked into her distant eyes, “Please, just trust me, please.” 

“I’m done waiting for you to explain, I’m done pretending everything is fine.” Katara couldn’t hide the shaking of her hands as she wiped away her tears. 

Aang kept pleading for her to trust him, his words blurring together for her. 

“I can’t do this anymore; I’m so sorry.” Her voice was strangled by the sounds of her crying. She moved to leave, but Aang caught her hand.

She saw the heartbreak she was causing, the tears falling down his face, and she cared. She wanted more than anything to wipe away his tears and hold him close and say it was all right. 

But it  _ wasn’t  _ alright. 

“I never want to see you again, you understand?” She didn’t wait for him to say anything. She tugged her hand away and moved to grab her supplies she had packed just in case. 

He tried to follow her, for blocks on end, until she water bended a block of solid ice between them. She had already written a note for Aang explaining where she was going, while another was to her friends, telling them that she wouldn’t come to the peace festival. 

Her tears splattered onto the papers but she didn’t care. Right now she wanted to leave. She wanted to leave the heartbreak of Aang’s betrayal. She wanted to leave her heart behind in Makapu. 

In a way, she did. 

  
  


…

Aang hadnt slept since the night before Katara broke up with him. He wasn’t used to the empty space beside him. He kept throwing his arm out, expecting to find Katara, when it only hit air.

The ride on Appa to the Fire Nation was even worse. A part of him felt like she was there, making jokes and leaning on him, a phantom weight. 

But when he looked all, he found was himself, Appa, and a blue Water Tribe box. 

He had bought the box in the Earth Kingdom. A young man whose father used to live in the southern water tribe had died recently and his belongings were being sold to feed his family. Aang overpaid handsomely.

For a month he had kept the stones in there, the third one constantly take in and out of the box as he worked on it. 

Now Aang took the box into his hands and allowed himself to look at the stones. 

The first was horrible. The design had so many flaws and there were scratches in all the wrong places. When Aang put his thumb over it, it actually scratched him. 

The second was more assured. The design had been perfected, yet the technique of carving not so much. It didn’t look like a child had made it as the first did. The lines unfortunately were not perfect. Some were too big and other too small. 

The third was perfect. It was smooth to touch and the carvings simple and elegant. He had even wrote on the back of it  _ “you’re my forever girl”.  _ Aang smiled at her stone. For they truly would be hers even if he never gave them to her. His smile faded as he remembered that she would never see it, never understand why he had lied. 

Aang knew he was dumb for not telling her, a part of him thoight she would understand what she was doing. He should have just told her and ruined the surprise or skies even proposed then. 

At the thought of what he had done wrong Aang dropped the box back into his pack and hoped the cold air of flying would dry his tears before he got to the fire nation. 

When he finally got to their house,  _ what would have been their house _ , he unpacked and carefully placed the box on the shelf. A small voice in his head told him to break it, the stones the box all of it, as katara had broken his heart. Yet another voice told him that he should keep it as a memory of what they once had. 

He listened to one of the voices and tried to move on with his life without katara. Even though it would never truly be a life without her. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i’m so sorry this took so long to come out. i don’t know when the next chapter will come out i’ve found i’ve lost all motivation for writing, but i promise i WILL finish this story. if not for u guys then to be able to boast to my friends in the only one who’s been able to finish a fic. i’m sorry if this chapter wasn’t the best, (maybe?)the next one will be better.

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter wasn't the best and was kinda choppy and slow, i'm sorry. I promise it picks up next chapter!


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